isBKMa; 


PRINCETON,  N.  J 


Division 


Section 


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ARCHAEOLOGY  OF  ROME, 


BY 

v/ 

JOHN  HENRY  PARKER,  C.B. 

Hon.  M.A.  Oxon.,  F.  S.A.  Lond.  ; 

KEEPER  OF  THE  ASHMOLEAN  MUSEUM  OF  HISTORY  AND  ARCHAEOLOGY,  OXFORD; 
VICE-PRESIDENT  OF  THE  OXFORD  ARCHITECTURAL  AND  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY, 
AND  OF  THE  BRITISH  AND  AMERICAN  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY  OF  ROME  ; 
MEMBER  OF  THE  ROYAL  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  INSTITUTE, 

MEMBRE  DE  LA  SOCIET&  FRANQ/USE  d’ARCH^OLOGIE, 

HONORARY  MEMBER  OF  THE  ROYAL  INSTITUTE  OF  BRITISH  ARCHITECTS, 
AND  OF  VARIOUS  ARCHaEOLOGICAL  SOCIETIES,  ENGLISH  AND  FOREIGN. 


PART  XII. 

THE  CATACOMBS. 

- 

t 


OXFORD: 

JAMES  PARKER  AND  CO. 

LONDON : 

JOHN  MURRAY,  ALBEMARLE- STREET. 

1877. 


Directions  to  the  Binder. 

- -♦ - 

THE  CATACOMBS. 

PAGES 


Title,  Preface,  and  Contents  .  .  .  .  24 

Text  and  Appendices  .......  202 

Description  of  the  Plates — Of  Construction  ....  4 

- Of  Fresco-paintings  .  .  .  .29 

- Gilt  Glass  Vases  .  .  .  .  8 


267 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


I 


PREFACE  TO  THE  CATACOMBS. 


So  many  popular  delusions  are  current  on  the  subject  of  the 
Roman  Catacombs,  that  it  is  difficult  to  obtain  a  hearing  for 
a  plain,  unvarnished  tale,  in  which  the  ■  truth  has  been  the  only 
object  sought  for.  These  popular  delusions  are  not  confined  to 
one  party  or  one  side,  there  are  extremes  both  ways,  and  both 
are  equally  erroneous ;  they  have  unfortunately  been  made  use  of 
as  weapons  of  polemical  controversy,  and  the  conclusions  wished 
for  on  each  side  have  been  jumped  at  without  proper  examina¬ 
tion  of  the  foundations  on  which  they  are  built.  The  same  tests 
must  be  applied  to  the  legends  respecting  them  that  are  applicable 
to  all  other  legendary  history,  and  they  cannot  be  received  as 
authentic  without  examination. 

The  origin  of  the  name  of  Catacomb,  to  begin  with,  is  one  of 
the  questions  long  discussed  and  still  undecided;  but  as  the  name 
is  medieval  only,  and  not  that  by  which  they  were  originally  called, 
it  does  not  seem  very  material :  the  original  name  was  Cemeteria , 
and  like  many  other  words  this  had  a  double  signification,  one 
general,  the  other  specific;  the  general  name  was  that  of  a  tract 
of  ground  applied  for  the  purpose  of  intennent,  the  specific  name 
was  a  particular  burial-vault,  called  also  a  cubiculum ,  which  was 
usually  sold  in  perpetuity  to  a  particular  family,  without  reference 
to  the  religion  of  its  members.  In  one  instance  only,  as  far  as 
has  been  ascertained,  it  was  given  to  the  holders  of  a  particular 
office ;  the  bishops  of  Rome  in  the  third  century  had  their  own 
special  cemetery  or  burial-vault,  in  the  general  burial-ground  of 
the  family  of  Calixtus.  S.  Anicetus,  bishop  and  martyr,  a.d.  174, 
and  Bishop  Soter,  a.d.  189,  were  buried  in  this  Catacomb;  and 
Bishop  Zephirinus  in  his  own  cemetery,  near  that  of  Calixtus ;  on 
the  Via  Appia.  S.  Calixtus  himself  was  not  buried  in  the  cemetery 
that  bears  his  name,  but  in  that  of  Calepodius  on  the  Via  Aurelia. 

The  Chronological  Table  of  the  Catacombs  given  in  this  Chapter, 


IV 


PREFACE  TO  THE  CATACOMBS. 


brings  out  their  history  more  clearly,  and  shews  how  frequently  they 
have  been  restored;  and  a  comparison  of  the  fresco  paintings  in 
them  with  the  mosaic  pictures  in  the  churches,  which  are  all  dated, 
shews  that  the  paintings  are  not  of  so  early  a  date  as  is  commonly 
supposed;  they  generally  belong  to  the  latest  restorations,  the  gilt 
glass  vases  found  in  them  give  the  same  evidence ;  few  of  them 
are  of  any  early  date,  and  many  of  them  are  not  Christian.  This 
is  another  indication  that  many  of  the  catacombs  were  family  burial- 
places.  There  were  three  catacombs  for  the  Jews,  and  one  for 
the  Gnostics,  or  the  worshippers  of  Mithra ;  and  the  last  was  con¬ 
nected  with  those  of  the  family  of  Prsetextatus. 

There  is  a  very  general  misunderstanding  on  the  subject  of  sand¬ 
pits  ;  those  who  are  accustomed  to  English  sand-pits  only  cannot  easily 
understand  how  very  different  the  Roman  sand-pits  are,  fromqthe 
peculiar  geological  formation  of  the  Campagna  of  Rome,  the  whole  of 
the  subsoil  of  which  consists  of  successive  layers  of  tufa  of  different 
degrees  of  hardness;  one  hard  layer  is  good  for  building-stone, 
another  is  only  loose  sand  called  Pozzolana,  a  third  is  between 
the  two.  The  last  kind  of  tufa  is  the  best  for  the  purpose  of  cata¬ 
combs,  but  they  are  by  no  means  all  made  in  that  material :  some 
are  in  clay,  others  in  river  sand,  which  is  quite  different  from  the 
Pozzolana.  The  sand-pit  roads  were  made  by  excavating,  in  a  bed 
or  layer  of  sand,  a  space  sufficient  to  allow  a  horse  and  cart  to  go 
along,  and  the  sand  dug  out  to  make  the  road  was  itself  a  sand-pit, 
but  there  are  other  pits  at  intervals  also.  These  subterranean  roads 
formed  very  convenient  modes  of  access  to  the  Catacombs,  which 
were  generally  made  in  the  harder  bed  of  tufa  under  that  level.  In 
some  cases  the  beds  are  alternate,  the  Pozzolana  is  found  at  two  or 
three  different  levels.  In  the  catacomb  of  S.  Priscilla,  which  is  five 
stories  deep,  two  are  sand-pit  roads,  one  of  which  has  been  partially 
used  for  burials,  the  other  has  not.  When  these  roads  passed  under 
the  property  of  a  family,  whether  their  farm  or  their  burial-place,  the 
ground  was  the  property  of  that  family  to  any  depth,  and  the  name 
of prccdium  would  apply  equally  to  both. 

We  read  of  the  body  of  a  martyr  being  interred  in  the  prccdium  of 


PREFACE  TO  THE  CATACOMBS. 


V 


a  certain  person,  which  means  in  his  or  her  family  burial-place.  The 
endless  variety  of  circumstances  attending  these  burial-places,  makes 
it  very  difficult  to  explain  them  clearly.  Some  of  the  sand-pit  roads 
appear  originally  to  have  been  open  at  the  top,  and  have  been  only 
ancient  foss-ways,  fifteen  feet  below  the  level  of  the  soil,  as  was  usual 
in  the  time  of  the  kings  of  Rome,  and  to  have  been  arched  over  after 
the  fashion  had  changed,  and  the  roads  were  made  on  the  level 
of  the  ground;  but  this  was  not  until  the  second  century  of  the 
Christian  era,  or  subsequent  to  that  time.  It  is  not  in  the  least 
probable,  scarcely  credible,  that  the  beautiful  brickwork  of  the 
time  of  Nero,  with  richly-worked  cornices  and  pilasters,  such  as 
we  find  at  the  entrance  of  the  catacomb  of  Pmetextatus,  was  in¬ 
tended  to  be  in  a  subterranean  road  for  the  use  of  carts  for  sand  only. 
The  level  of  the  road  near  S.  Urbano  is  not  more  than  that  depth 
below  the  surface  that  was  usual  for  the  foss-ways,  and  the  same 
is  the  case  in  the  cross-road  near  the  Via  Ardeatina,  in  which 
the  catacomb  of  Nereus  and  Achilleus  was  made  in  the  same 
manner.  Neither  is  it  at  all  probable  that  extensive  burial-places 
would  be  made  for  Christians  only  in  the  year  50  of  the  Christian 
era,  which  is  about  the  date  of  this  brickwork. 

In  several  instances  the  original  entrance  to  a  catacomb  was 
near  a  sand-pit  in  the  usual  sense,  others  in  a  sand-pit  road ;  the 
present  entrances  are  almost  all  modern,  merely  cut  through  into 
the  catacombs  by  accident,  or  for  convenience ;  the  original  entrance, 
when  found,  is  not  used,  and  sometimes  seems  to  be  rather  stu¬ 
diously  avoided.  In  the  catacomb  of  S.  Priscilla  the  original  en¬ 
trance  has  a  good  flight  of  steps  down  to  it ;  and  a  small  piece  of 
hand-rail  of  pierced  marble,  called  a  transenna ,  has  been  restored  at 
the  bottom  of  the  steps,  but  the  upper  part  of  them,  though  open 
to  the  sky,  is  not  made  accessible.  In  the  catacomb  of  S.  Generosa, 
excavated  in  1870  at  the  expense  of  the  King  of  Prussia,  in  which 
the  work  was  directed  by  Dr.  Henzen  and  De  Rossi,  the  entrance 
is  not  original.  There  are  two  old  entrances,  one  through  a  chapel, 
the  other  close  to  a  sand-pit  on  the  opposite  end. 

In  that  of  S.  Agnes  the  original  entrance  was  through  a  chapel, 
now  the  church ;  but  that  is  closed,  and  another  made  near  to  it. 


VI 


PREFACE  TO  THE  CATACOMBS. 


The  principal  corridor  then  passes  under  the  church,  and  the  great 
flight  of  steps  leading  down  into  it,  then  under  part  of  the  garden 
of  the  monks,  and  there  is  an  exit  from  it  in  the  Church,  or  Bap¬ 
tistery,  or  Mausoleum  of  S.  Constantia.  That  building  may  be  called 
by  either  of  these  names.  It  certainly  is  a  mausoleum,  for  the  sar¬ 
cophagus  stood  in  it ;  and  it  appears  to  have  been  a  baptistery  for 
baptism  by  immersion,  for  which  purpose  the  central  space  has  been 
made  at  a  lower  level,  with  steps  down  into  it  from  the  aisle  round 
it.  Properly  speaking  it  is  not  a  church,  though  it  is  usually  so 
called,  and  is  reckoned  as  one.  In  the  interval  between  this  and 
the  church  of  S.  Agnes,  and  which  is  now  the  garden,  no  less  than 
five  pagan  tombs  have  been  found,  with  an  entrance  from  the  lower 
chamber  of  each  into  the  catacomb.  The  upper  parts  of  the  tombs 
are  destroyed,  but  the  two  lower  chambers  remain  in  each  case. 
It  seems  far  more  probable  that  the  opening  was  made  by  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  family  in  want  of  more  space  for  interments,  than  merely 
for  the  search  after  the  treasures  supposed  to  have  been  buried  in 
the  catacombs.  The  latter  is  the  theory  of  the  priests-  and  the 
monks,  (as  was  mentioned  in  speaking  about  the  Tombs).  The 
communication  between  a  tomb  and  the  catacomb  of  Calixtus  has 
also  been  mentioned. 

Scores  of  Pagan  inscriptions  have  been  found  in  the  Catacombs, 
and  many  of  them  remain  there  still.  The  theory  of  the  priests 
and  their  followers  is  that  all  these  were  carried  down  to  the  Cata¬ 
combs  as  old  marble,  to  be  used  again ;  this  appears  to  me  extremely 
improbable.  Why  should  the  Catacombs  be  made  a  stone-mason’s 
yard,  to  cut  the  stone  to  the  size  required,  and  to  engrave  the  new 
name  upon  it  on  the  reverse  side  ?  That  this  was  sometimes  done 
we  see  plainly,  but  it  is  far  more  probable  that  the  new  inscriptions 
were  engraved  before  the  slab  of  marble  was  carried  down  into  the 
catacomb.  In  some  cases  all  the  back  of  a  thick  slab  is  left  rough, 
and  would  have  to  be  smoothed  and  polished  before  it  could  be 
engraved  upon.  At  the  edge  of  the  slab  also  are  remains  of  the 
cement  or  mortar  for  fastening  it  to  the  wall,  with  the  rough  side 
inwards,  and  the  pagan  inscription  outwards. 

That  the  early  Christian  martyrs  were  buried  in  the  Catacombs 


PREFACE  TO  THE  CATACOMBS. 


•  • 
Vll 


there  is  no  doubt ;  but  the  exaggeration  of  the  numbers,  that  was 
made  by  the  Roman-Catholic  Church  in  the  Middle  Ages,  has 
made  many  consider  the  whole  history  as  apocryphal,  which  is  to  be 
regretted.  There  is  a  natural  awe  and  reverence  for  these  ancient- 
burial-places,  which  would  have  more  effect  if  it  had  not  been  for 
that  exaggeration,  and  for  the  traffic  that  has  been  made  out  of 
them.  The  whole  history  of  the  catacomb  of  S.  Peter,  in  the 
Vatican  Hill,  is  very  doubtful ;  there  are  no  remains  of  it  visible. 
The  floor  of  the  old  church  appears  to  have  been  the  burial-place, 
this  is  now  the  floor  of  the  crypt.  The  old  payement,  with  the 
numerous  tombs  in  it,  was  preserved  when  the  present  church  was 
built  over  it  on  a  much  higher  level.  All  those  on  the  western  side 
of  the  Tiber  are  in  soil  not  suited  for  the  purpose,  and  are  therefore 
inferior  to  those  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  river.  The  latter,  in¬ 
deed,  is  the  district  originally  called  the  catacombs  a,  extending  from 
S.  Paul’s  Church,  on  the  bank  of  the  Tiber,  going  along  the  line  of 
the  road  that  passes  across  the  Via  Ardeatina  and  the  Via  Appia, 
to  the  church  of  S.  Urbano,  on  the  edge  of  the  cliff  of  the  valley 
of  the  Caffarelli,  in  which  runs  the  small  river  Almo.  The  church 
of  S.  Sebastian  stands  at  an  angle  of  the  Via  Appia  and  of  this 
cross-road.  There  is  no  improbability  in  there  having  been  a  sand¬ 
pit  road  parallel  to  it  all  the  way,  and  that  an  original  entrance  to 
all  these  catacombs  was  through  S.  Sebastian’s,  as  is  still  the  belief 
of  the  good  monks  there,  although  this  is  denied  by  De  Rossi,  whose 
opinion  carries  great  weight.  The  inscription,  according  to  which 
174,000  martyrs  were  interred  in  this  catacomb,  would  have  more 
probability,  if  that  number  was  meant  to  include  the  whole  series 
of  catacombs,  to  which  this  was  an  entrance.  The  church  of 
S.  Urbano  may  have  been  at  another  entrance  at  the  east  end  of 
the  series,  and  S.  Paul’s  at  the  west  end. 

There  are  hundreds  of  miles  of  sand-pit  roads  undermining  the 
Campagna  of  Rome  in  all  directions,  some  still  in  use,  others  long 
disused  and  the  entrances  walled  up.  Some  of  them  are  probably 
as  old  as  the  foundation  of  Rome.  The  earliest  commerce  of  which 

a  The  Circus  of  Maxentius  is  described  at  an  early  period  as  being  in  the 
Catacombs. 


Vlll 


PREFACE  TO  THE  CATACOMBS. 


we  have  any  record  is  the  exchange  of  salt  for  Pozzalana  sand  at 
Rome,  which  is  the  highest  point  to  which  the  Tiber  is  navigable, 
and  the  early  Kings  of  Rome  made  salt  marshes  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Tiber,  called  Ostia,  for  the  preparation  of  salt,  and  these  are 
still  in  use.  A  sand-pit  road  is  itself  a  sand-pit  at  the  same  time, 
as  it  is  commonly  made  in  a  layer  of  Pozzalana  sand  of  about  ten 
feet  thick,  and  the  sand  dug  out  in  making  the  road  was  carried 
away  as  sand  to  be  sold ;  there  are  pits  at  intervals  also  on  each 
side  of  the  road,  but  nearly  on  the  same  level. 

Many  visitors  to  Rome  must  have  seen  the  numerous  sand-carts 
going  in  and  coming  out  of  one  of  the  subterranean  roads  near 
where  the  old  Via  Latina  crosses  the  Via  Appia  Nova,  at  about  two 
miles  from  Rome,  in  a  valley  near  to  the  celebrated  “  Painted 
Tombs  on  the  Via  Latina.”  They  might  follow  one  of  the  carts  for 
several  miles.  These  roads  were  admirably  calculated  to  give  access 
to  the  catacombs,  and  to  carry  away  the  sand  dug  out  in  making 
them  ;  for  although  the  soft  tufa  in  which  these  cemeteries  are  made, 
and  in  which  tombs  are  cut  in  the  side  of  the  road,  or  path,  or  cor¬ 
ridor,  is  harder  than  the  Pozzalana  beds,  it  is  not  so  hard  but  what 
when  pounded  it  becomes  sand  of  the  same  description,  and  equally 
useful. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  extensive  catacombs  on  the 
Via  Salaria  (vetus  and  nova),  were  also  connected  together  by  sub¬ 
terranean  sand-pit  roads,  or  subterranean  passages  of  some  kind ; 
as  they  have  not  been  excavated,  there  is  no  means  of  knowing 
exactly  of  what  sort  they  were ;  but  the  opinion  of  the  modern 
Fossores,  Valentino  and  his  son,  who  have  had  great  experience, 
is  that  such  communication  existed  in  both  cases.  In  the  catacomb 
of  S.  Agnes,  the  tradition  of  the  monastery  is  that  there  was  a  sand¬ 
pit  road  from  the  Ponte  Nomentana  parallel  to  the  high  road,  nearly 
to  Rome,  and  that  this  was  used  in  making  this  underground  ceme¬ 
tery.  It  is  certain  that  there  is  a  sand-pit  in  part  of  the  present 
catacomb  near  S.  Constantia,  and  a  road  leading  to  and  from  the 
pit,  now  choked  up,  so  that  the  length  of  it  cannot  be  ascertained. 
The  present  garden  of  the  monks  over  the  catacomb  had  evidently 


PREFACE  TO  THE  CATACOMBS. 


IX 


been  a  public  burying-place,  or  cemetery,  before  this  catacomb  was 
made;  the  ground  is  full  of  old  tombs,  the  upper  parts  of  which 
have  been  destroyed,  but  some  of  them  have  openings  into  the 
catacomb  below. 

The  churches  outside  the  walls,  grand  basilicas  as  some  of  them 
now  are,  were  all  originally  chapels  at  the  entrances  of  the  cata¬ 
combs,  of  which  S.  Agnes  is  perhaps  the  best  example,  the  floor  of 
the  church  being  considerably  below  the  level  of  the  ground,  and 
not  much  above  the  level  of  the  upper  corridor  of  the  catacomb. 
The  mausoleum  of  S.  Helena  was  also  a  chapel  at  the  entrance 
of  that  large  catacomb ;  the  tomb  itself  was  vaulted  over,  and  had 
an  altar  in  it,  so  that  it  served  for  a  church  also.  After  the  vault, 
which  was  made  of  pottery,  fell,  or  was  destroyed,  a  church  was 
built  in  it,  called  after  SS.  Marcellinus  and  Peter,  Roman  mar¬ 
tyrs,  who  suffered  in  the  great  persecution  of  the  Christians  under 
Diocletian,  just  before  the  time  of  Constantine  and  S.  Helena.  This 
fine  catacomb  is  very  extensive,  and  a  considerable  part  of  it  has 
never  been  explored  or  excavated :  permission  might  readily  be  ob¬ 
tained  to  do  this  if  the  funds  were  forthcoming :  as  the  monks  of 
S.  Agnes  found  some  portions  of  their  catacomb  which  had  escaped 
the  spoliators,  and  in  which  the  tombs  had  not  been  opened,  it  is 
probable  that  the  same  might  be  the  case  in  that  of  S.  Helena. 

The  magnificent  church  of  S.  Paul  was  originally  a  cemetery 
chapel  only,  at  the  entrance  of  another  extensive  catacomb,  and  per¬ 
haps  at  one  end  of  a  great  series  of  catacombs  (as  has  been  said). 
That  this  was  really  the  place  where  the  body  of  S.  Paul  was  buried 
after  his  martyrdom  there  is  no  reasonable  ground  to  doubt ;  it  is 
about  half-a-mile  from  the  place  of  his  martyrdom,  and  a  Lady  Lucina 
is  recorded  to  have  received  the  body  in  her  prcedium, ,  or  her  own 
family  burial  ground.  There  are  three  churches,  or  chapels,  also  at 
the  tre  fontane ,  the  place  where  he  was  beheaded :  we  do  not  know 
that  these  had  any  immediate  connection  with  the  catacombs,  al¬ 
though  they  are  very  near  some  of  them.  Two  of  the  present 
churches  are  modern,  that  is,  of  the  sixteenth  or  seventeenth  cen¬ 
tury  ;  one  is  of  the  twelfth ;  this  is  a  large  church,  the  history  of 
which  is  curious  :  it  was  built  by  the  pope  of  that  period  for  S.  Ber- 


X 


PREFACE  TO  THE  CATACOMBS. 


nard,  when  he  was  at  Rome ;  and  the  first  monastery  of  the  Cistercian 
order  in  Italy  and  in  Rome  was  there.  S.  Bernard  was  the  great 
Puritan  of  his  day,  and  preached  against  the  vanity  of  the  rich  deco¬ 
rations  of  churches  that  was  then  the  fashion  in  Rome.  The  church 
of  S.  Maria  in  Cosmedin,  so  called  from  its  extreme  richness,  was 
then  just  built,  and  was  probably  one  of  those  against  which  S.  Ber¬ 
nard  had  railed.  The  present  church,  built  to  please  him,  is  as 
plain  as  it  could  well  be  made,  which  gives  it  the  appearance  of 
being  a  century  earlier  than  it  really  is. 

The  fine  church  of  S.  Lorenzo,  or  S.  Lawrence,  was  also  originally 
a  burial-chapel  at  the  entrance  of  the  great  cemetery  or  catacomb  of 
S.  Cyriaca.  The  great  reputation  of  the  relics  of  S.  Lawrence  at¬ 
tracted  so  many  worshippers,  and  such  large  donations,  that  the 
church  has  been  more  than  once  rebuilt  on  a  more  magnificent 
scale.  There  were  at  one  period  two  churches,  placed  end  to  end, 
the  two  altars  with  their  apses  looking  exactly  the  opposite  way. 

In  the  siege  of  Rome  by  the  Goths  under  Vitiges,  a.d.  537,  the 
Catacombs  were  much  damaged  ;  they  were  repaired  and  restored  by 
the  Popes  soon  afterwards,  especially  John  III.,  a.d.  560 — 574,  and 
many  of  the  paintings  are  of  the  sixth  century.  A  century  later,  the 
Lombards  are  stated  to  have  had  also  a  special  spite  against  them, 
because  the  priests  cleared  such  large  revenues  from  the  offerings  of  the 
pious  to  these  shrines,  and  they  alleged  that  they  made  war  against 
the  priests  as  the  governors  of  Rome,  and  not  against  the  Roman 
people.  To  save  these  valuable  relics  from  the  enemy,  whose  attacks 
were  expected  to  be  repeated,  the  bones  were  brought  by  wagon-loads 
to  the  churches  within  the  walls,  especially  those  then  building,  to 
which  large  subterranean  chambers  or  crypts  were  built  to  receive 
them,  as  at  S.  Sylvester  in  capite  Via  Lata ,  Santa  Prassede,  Santa 
Maria  in  Cosmedin,  the  Santa  Quattro  Coronati,  and  several  others. 
This  has  given  rise  to  another  popular  delusion ;  the  people  hearing 
of  crowds  of  worshippers  coming  to  touch  the  relics  of  the  martyrs, 
have  assumed  that  there  were  subterranean  passages  from  these  new 
crypts  to  the  old  Catacombs  outside  of  the  town,  which  is  entirely  an 
error.  The  name  of  Roma  Sotterranea,  given  to  the  great  work  of 
Bosio  and  Arringhi,  and  continued  by  De  Rossi,  has  helped  to  keep 


PREFACE  TO  THE  CATACOMBS. 


XI 


iip  this  popular  delusion.  Many  people  who  do  not  know  Rome, 
suppose  that  the  Catacombs  there  are  really  under  the  city  of  Rome, 
instead  of  being  two  or  three  miles  from  it ;  and  when  they  discover 
their  error,  still  imagine  that  there  must  be  subterranean  passages 
from  one  to  the  other,  as  they  are  also  told  by  the  sacristans  of  the 
churches  in  Rome. 

Another  popular  delusion  is,  that  the  fresco  paintings  in  the  Cata¬ 
combs  belong  to  the  age  of  the  martyrdoms,  that  is,  the  second  and 
third  centuries ;  this  is  entirely  a  mistake.  De  Rossi  indeed  is 
careful  never  to  assert  it,  but  the  popular  belief  is  so  completely 
implied  in  his  great  work  throughout,  that  the  abridgers  of  it,  both 
English  and  French,  have  asserted  it  without  hesitation.  The  fact 
is,  that  fully  three-fourths  of  the  paintings  belong  to  the  latest  resto¬ 
rations  of  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries  ;  and  of  the  remaining  fourth 
part,  a  considerable  number  are  of  the  sixth  century,  painted  origi¬ 
nally  in  the  time  of  John  I.,  who  was  Pope  a.d.  523,  and  who  made 
one  catacomb  and  restored  two  others ;  and  the  same  paintings  occur 
in  all  three,  but  some  of  them  were  damaged  in  the  siege  by  the  Lom¬ 
bards,  soon  after  they  were  painted,  and  restored  by  John  III., 

'  within  the  same  century :  traces  of  early  restorations  can  be  seen 
upon  them.  Still,  there  are  many  paintings  of  the  fourth  and  fifth 
centuries,  the  earliest  are  the  common  Good  Shepherd,  and  certain 
well-known  Scriptural  subjects.  The  history  of  Jonah  was  the 
fashion  chiefly  in  the  fifth  century,  and  this  is  the  most  common  of 
all  the  subjects  in  the  Catacombs,  and  many  of  them  have  been  re¬ 
stored  in  the  eighth  or  ninth  century.  In  the  early  catacombs  of 
Prsetextatus,  and  Nereus  and  Achilleus,  there  are  paintings  of  the 
second  and  third  centuries,  but  they  are  not  of  religious  subjects  at 
all,  and  might  as  well  be  the  decoration  of  a  Pagan  tomb  as  of 
a  Christian  catacomb ;  they  are  the  cultivation  of  the  vine  in  Prse- 
textatus,  and  the  four  seasons  in  S.  Nereus;  each  season  is  easily 
recognised  by  the  produce  of  the  time  of  the  year,  and  each  has  the 
attendant  genius,  which  looks  more  like  Pagan  than  Christian  art. 
There  are  no  religious  subjects  before  the  time  of  Constantine,  and 
during  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  they  are  confined  entirely  to 
Scriptural  subjects.  There  is  not  a  figure  of  a  saint  or  martyr  before 


Xll 


PREFACE  TO  THE  CATACOMBS. 


the  sixth  century,  and  very  few  before  the  eighth,  when  they  become 
abundant.  Among  these,  in  the  catacomb  of  S.  Calixtus  is  a  figure 
of  S.  Cyprian,  the  African  bishop,  which  has  led  the  faithful  Romans 
to  believe  that  he  was  buried  in  that  catacomb,  whereas  there  is  no 
doubt  that  he  was  a  martyr,  and  was  buried  in  Africa. 

Respecting  the  inscriptions  on  the  tombstones  there  is  no  such 
doubt,  they  have  scarcely  been  touched,  and  are  the  most  genuine 
things  from  the  Catacombs ;  but  few  of  them  are  before  the  third 
century,  and  by  far  the  largest  proportion  are  of  the  fourth  and 
fifth,  with  a  few  of  the  sixth,  and  even  later ;  the  family  burial- 
places  continued  to  be  in  use  as  long  as  they  were  accessible.  Un¬ 
fortunately  all  the  inscriptions  have  been  removed  from  their  places 
and  arranged  on  the  walls  of  museums,  and  cloisters,  and  monas¬ 
teries  ;  frequently  there  is  no  record  of  what  catacomb  they  came 
from,  but  the  great  works  of  the  successive  Keepers  of  the  Cata¬ 
combs,  and  the  Plates  of  Bosio,  and  the  old  Itineraries  supply  the 
localities  of  many  of  them,  and  they  are  highly-interesting  records 
of  the  piety  of  the  early  Christians. 


/ 


CONTENTS  TO  CATACOMBS. 


I.  Introduction 


PAGE 

1—13 


II.  Chronology. 


Catacomb  or  Cemetery  of  S.  Peter, 
under  the  Temple  of  Apollo,  in 
the  Vatican  (?)  ... 

Popes  from  Linus,  A.D.  67(?), 
buried  there  .... 
Inscriptions,  genuine  . 

Paintings,  generally  restored . 

Dates  when  each  Cemetery  is  first 
mentioned. 

A.  D. 

217,  Cemetery  of  S.  Calixtus 
222,  Calepodius  . 

230,  Praetextatus  or  S.  Urban — 
{restored  a.d.  741  and  795) 

252,  Lucina 

269,  Dionysius  or  Dennis 
296,  Priscilla 
300,  Castolus 
337,  Balbina 
348,  Calepodius  . 

352— 36°.  Agnes 
366,  Sebastian,  under  Julian  the 
Apostate 

- Damasus 

401,  Anastasius  I. 

418,  Laurence,  or  Lorenzo,  or 
Cyriaca  {restored A.D.  795) 

419,  Felicitas  {restored  a.d.  795) 

440,  Cornelius 


14 

ib. 

ib. 

15 


16 

ib. 

ib. 

17 
ib. 

18 
ib. 

19 
ib. 
ib. 

20 

ib. 

ib. 

ib. 

ib. 

21 


498,  The  Jordanes  {restored  A.T>. 79  ib. 

523, 


Nereus  and  Achilleus,  made 
Felix  and  Adauctus,  restored 
Commodilla,  or  Domitilla, 
restored  .... 
537,  The  Goths  exterminate  the 
Catacombs  .... 
538>  Vigilius  and  John  III.  repair 
them  ..... 


ib. 

ib. 

ib. 

22 

ib. 


PAGE 


577,  S.  Hermes  made , — {restored 


A.D. 795) 

.  22 

590,  The  Lent  Stations  made 

.  ib. 

619,  Nicomedes  . 

.  ib. 

626,  Marcellinus  and  Peter — 

[re- 

newed  again  A.D.  705  and  795)  ib. 

649,  Relics  began  to  be  removed 

from  the  Catacombs 

.  ib. 

687,  Masses  celebrated  in  them 

.  23 

752,  Soter,  restored 

.  ib. 

768,  More  Relics  removed  . 

817,  2,300  bodies  removed  to  the 

Church  of  S.  Prassede 

.  24 

844,  More  Relics  removed  to 

S. 

Sylvester’s 

.  ib. 

857,  S.  Marcus,  restored 

.  ib. 

867,  Priscilla,  &c.,  restored  . 

.  ib. 

1217,  Pilgrimages  renewed  . 

.  ib. 

III.  The  Martyrs  . 

25—38 

IV.  Construction  . 

39—46 

Paintings  .... 

47—49 

Gilt  Glass  Vases  . 

50—55 

V.  Local  Arrangement. 

Via  Cornelia — or  Triumpha- 
lis. — S.  Peter’s  Church  at  the 
Vatican  .  .  .  -5^ 

Via  Aurelia — S.  Pancratius  .  59 
Via  Portuensis — S.  Pontianus  .  60 

- S.  Generosa,  at  the  College 

of  the  Arvales  .  .  .  .64 

VI.  Via  Ostiensis,  &c. 
Catacomb  of  Lucina  or  S.  Paul  .  68 

Via  Ardeatina.  SS.  Nereus  and 
Achilleus. — S.  Domitilla  .  .  7° 

- S.  Petronilla  .  .  •  71 

Via  Appia. 

Martyrs  executed  in  front  of  the 
Temple  of  Mars  .  .  -73 


c 


XIV 


CONTENTS  TO  CATACOMBS. 


S.  Sebastian 

PAGE 

•  74 

Proetextatus,  or  S.  Urban’s  . 

76 

Entrance  from  a  sand-pit  road 

78 

Family  of  Proetextatus  . 

ib. 

S.  Quirinus  the  Tribune,  M. 

79 

S.  Balbina,  M.  .  .  79, 

80, 

90 

S.  Systus  or  Sustus 

79, 

81 

SS.  Felicissimus,  &c.  . 

• 

81 

SS.  Tiburtius,  &c. 

# 

ib. 

S.  Zeno  .... 

* 

ib. 

Square  Chamber  of  Brick 

• 

82 

SS.  Januarius,  &c.,  M. 

• 

ib. 

- other  Ctibicida 

• 

83 

One  Corridor  a  Sand-pit 

• 

84 

The  Gnostics  (?),  or  the  worshippers 

of  Mithras 

• 

85 

S.  Calixtus  .... 

• 

87 

Chapel  of  S.  Coecilia 

• 

ib. 

Inscription  of  Damasus,  a  palimpsest  88 
Paintings  of  A.D.  855,  SS.  Cor¬ 
nelius,  Sixtus,  Marcus  .  .  89 

Chapel  of  S.  Stephen  .  .  .  ib. 

Crypt,  or  Chapel,  or  Cubiculum, 
of  S.  Lucina,  near  to  S.  Calixtus  ib. 
The  Gens  Csecilia  .  .  .  ib. 

This  Catacomb  also  called  after 
S.  Zephyrinus,  S.  Hippolytus,  S. 
Xistus,  or  Sixtus,  or  Sustus,  S. 
Coecilia,  S.  Soter  .  .  .  ib. 


Via  Latina  .  .  .  -  91 

VII.  Via  Labicana. 

SS.  Peter  and  Marcellinus  .  .  92 

Mausoleum  of  S.  Helena  .  .  ib. 

SS.  Gorgonius,  Tiburtius,  Castulus  93 
Tombstones,  A.D.  292  and  307  .  ib. 

Cemetery,  restored  A.D.  626  and  772  ib. 
Paintings  .....  94 

Cemetery  of  S.  Helena  „  .  ib. 

Via  Nomentana — S.  Agnes  .  95 

- Called  Ccemeterium  majus  .  96 

- Part  made  under  Julian  the 

Apostate  ....  ib. 

- Liberius  took  refuge  here  .  ib. 

- An  Inscription  in  Mosaic  .  97 

- Others  painted  .  .  .  ib. 

- A  Pagan  Tombstone  in  it  .  ib. 

The  Painted  Chambers  .  .  98 

Subjects  the  usual  ones  .  .  ib. 


PAGE 


Glass  Vases  from  this  Cemetery  .  99 

S.  Alexander  .  .  .  .100 

- Discovered  in  1855  .  .100 

SS. Primus — Felicianus — and  Max- 
imianus  .  .  .  .  .  ib. 

Via  Tiburtina — S.'Cyriaca  and 
S.  Lorenzo  ....  101 

- Built  upon  a  sand-pit  .  .  ib. 

- Tombstones,  A.D.  295  to  604  ib. 

- Legend  of  S.  Cyriaca  .  .  ib. 

- of  S.  Lorenzo  .  .102 

Church  of  S.  Lorenzo,  originally 
a  burial-chapel  at  the  entrance 
to  this  cemetery  .  .  .  ib. 

- Cemetery  very  extensive  .  103 

- Tombstones  of  A.D.  369  to  500  ib. 

- Relics  of  S.  Cyriaca  trans¬ 
lated,  a.d.  844  .  .  .  ib. 

S.  Hippolytus  ad  Nymphas,  dis¬ 
tinct  from  S.  Cyriaca  .  .104 

Translation  of  S.  Stephen,  a  Roman 
Martyr,  A.D.  790  .  .  .  ib. 

Hymn  of  Prudentius  .  .  .  105 

Marble  Chair  of  S.  Hippolytus  .  106 
Mammea,  the  Empress,  a  Christian  107 
Crypt  of  S.  Stephen,  Proto-martyr  ib. 

- S.  Maximus  .  .  .  ib. 

- S.  Hilary  .  .  .  ib. 

- S.  Chrysanthus  .  .  ib. 

- S.  Daria  .  .  .  ib. 

Cemetery  of  Novella  .  .  .  ib. 

- - of  Agapetus  .  .  .  ib. 


VIII.  Via  Salaria  Vecchia 
and  Via  Flaminia. 


Cemetery  of  S.  Valentine  .  .  108 

- Getulius,  Cerealis,  &c.  .  109 

- S.  Hermes  ....  ib. 

Chapel  of  Basilla  .  .  .  ib. 

Tombs  of  Fossores  .  .  .110 

Paintings  .  .  .  .  .  ib. 

Mosaic  Picture  ....  ib. 
Cemetery  of  S.  Protus  .  .111 

- of  Hyacinthus  .  .  ib. 

- Tombstones,  A.  D.  234  and  298  ib. 

• - Bp.  Silvester  ornaments  it  .  ib. 

- Restored  by  Hadrian  I.,  a.d. 

772,  and  Nicolas  I.,  a.d.  860  .  ib. 


CONTENTS  TO  CATACOMBS. 


XV 


PAGE 


Relics  said  to  have  been  translated, 


found  in  1845 

112 

SS.  Saturninus  and  Thrason 

ib . 

Paintings  .... 

113 

S.  Priscilla  .... 

114 

- the  mother  of  Pudens(?) 

ns 

- Paintings,  A.  D.  523  (?)  . 

ib. 

- Chapel,  with  Altar 

n6 

- Platonia 

ib. 

• -  Painting  of  the  wine-barrels 

117 

- A  Sand-pit  Road 

ib. 

- Inscription  of  A.D.  204 

ib. 

- Called  also  S.  Marcellus 

n8 

- S.  Felicitas 

ib. 

IX.  The  Jews’  Catacomb,  Via 

Appia. 

Opposite  to  S.  Sebastian’s  . 

.  1 19 

- The  Seven-branched  Candle- 

stick  .... 

.  ib. 

- The  Palm-branch 

•  ib. 

- Lavatory  at  the  entrance 

.  120 

- Loculi  placed  end-ways 

,  ib. 

Jews’  Catacomb  on  the  Via  Por- 

tuensis  .... 

.  121 

- on  Monte  Verde,  or  Janiculum  ib. 

- another  near  S.  Sebastian’s 

.  ib. 

X.  Catacombs  within  the  Walls 

of  Rome. 

Crypts  under  Churches 

.  122 

Places  of  Pilgrimage 

.  123 

One  under  S.  Prassede 

•  ib. 

S.  Pudentiana  (?) 

.  124 

S.  Maria  in  Cosmedin 

•  ib. 

S.  Bibiana  . 

.  ib. 

Interment  in  Churches  permitted 

125 

XI.  Catacombs  of  Naples 


Entrance  through  Church  of  S 


Gennaro 

.  ib. 

Paintings 

.  126 

Burial-chapel  of  S.  Gennaro, 

or 

Januarius 

.  ib. 

The  work  of  Greek  settlers  (?) 

.  127 

Cubicula,  Family  Burial-vaults 

.  ib. 

Some  of  the  Tombs  are  Pagan 

.  128 

PAGE 

XII.  Churches  Outside  the  Walls 

CONNECTED  WITH  THE  CATACOMBS. 

Via  Ostiensis— S.  Paul  f.m.  .  129 

- A  Patriarchal  Basilica  .  .  ib. 

- Founded  A.  D.  254  (?)  .  .  ib. 

- by  Constantine,  a.d.  314  (?)  ib. 

- Endowed  by  him  .  .  ib. 

- Bodies  of  SS.  Peter  (?)  and 

Paul  interred  here  .  .  .130 

- of  other  Saints,  a.  d.  298  .  ib. 

- of  Pope  Paul  I.,  A.D.  767  .  ib. 

- of  John  XIII.,  a.d.  972  .  ib. 

- -  Count  Pier  Leone,  a.d.  1144  13 1 

- Confessio  S.  Pauli  M.  .  ib. 

- An  Inscription  records  build¬ 
ing,  A.D.  380 — 400  .  .  .  ib. 

- Restored  under  Galla  Placi- 

dia,  A.  D.  440  ....  ib. 

Apse  rebuilt  under  King  Theodo- 
ric,  A.  D.  498 — 514  .  .  .  ib. 

Mosaic  head  of  Christ  .  .  ib. 

Donations  in  gold  and  silver,  c.  A.  D. 

800 . 132 

Mosaic  Picture  on  Apse,  A.D.  1250  ib. 
Ciborium  or  Baldachino,  A.D.  1285  ib. 


Bronze  Doors,  A.D.  1070 

.  .  ib. 

Plan  of  Church  that  of  a 

Pagan 

Temple  . 

•  133 

Great  Fire,  A.D.  1823 

.  .  ib. 

The  Cloisters  preserved 

.  .  ib. 

Sumptuous  Restorations 

. 

Tre  Fontane. 

SS.  Vincentius  and  Anastasius  .  134 

- Built  a.d.  626,  by  Honorius  I.  ib. 

- Enlarged  A.D.  796,  by  Leo  III.  ib. 

- Outer  Walls  of  that  date  .  ib. 

- Rebuilt  a.d.  1128,  by  Inno¬ 
cent  II.  ....  ib. 

- Consecrated  A.  D.  1 1 9 1 ,  by  Cle¬ 
ment  III.  .  .  .  .  ib. 

-  Remarkably  plain,  to  please 

S.  Bernard  ....  ib. 

- Contrast  with  S.  M.  in  Cosmedin  ib. 

Gatehouse,  Twelfth  Century  .  ib. 

Paintings  upon  it,  a.d.  1227  .  ib. 

Called  in  1145,  S.  Anastasius  ad 
Aquas  Salvias  .  .  .  *35 


XVI 


CONTENTS  TO  CATACOMBS. 


PAGE 

S.  Paolo  alle  Tre  Fontane,  on  the 
site  of  the  spot  where  S.  Paul 
was  beheaded  .  .  .  135 

Church  built  by  Card.  Aldobrandini  ib. 

- Paintings,  Statues,  and  Relics  ib. 

S.  Maria  Scala  Coeli,  built  over 
Catacomb  of  S.  Zeno  .  .  136 

- Vision  of  S.  Bernard  .  .  ib. 

- Rebuilt  by  Card.  Farnese, 

A.  D.  1584  ....  ib. 

- Mosaic  Pictures  .  .  .  ib. 

Chapel  on  the  road,  modern  .  ib. 

Via  Appia. 

S.  Sebastianus  ad  Catacumbas  .  137 
- a  Basilica,  Monastic  and  Pa¬ 
rochial  .  .  .  .  .  ib. 

- founded  by  Innocent  I.,  a.d. 

401 — 417  •  •  •  •  .  ib. 

- over  a  Cemetery  Chapel  of 

Lucina  .  .  .  .  .  ib. 

Heads  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul  (?)  .  ib. 
Platonia  in  Crypt  .  .  .  ib. 

Confessio  of  twelfth  century  .  ib. 
Walls  of  Apse,  fifth  century  .  ib. 
Those  of  the  Crypt  earlier,  and  are 
probably  those  of  the  Cemetery 
Chapel  ....  ib. 

Chapel  on  Staircase,  thirteenth  cent.  138 
Ruins  of  Cemetery  Chapels  in  the 

garden . 139 

Church  partly  rebuilt  in  1612  .  ib. 

- A  Chapel  of  S.  Sebastian, 

with  relics,  in  Crypt,  A.D.  1672  ib. 

- Inscription  of  Pope  Damasus  ib. 

- A  modern  inscription  states 


that  74,000  martyrs  (?)  are  in¬ 
terred  there  .  .  .  .140 

The  Via  Appia  a  foss-way  here  .  ib. 

S.  Urbano  alia  Caffarella,  a  Tem¬ 
ple  (?)  of  Bacchus  (?)  or  a  Tomb  (?), 

Ci  A.  D.  150  .  .  .  .I4I 

- S.  Urban  I.  resided  here  .  ib. 

Church  consecrated  by  Urban  IV., 

A.D.  1694  ....  ib. 

- A  Hermitage  and  place  of  Pil¬ 
grimage  ....  ib. 

Fresco-paintings,  begun  1001  .  ib. 

- On  the  small  Crypt  or  Con¬ 
fessio  another  painting,  A.D.  824  142 


PAGE 

Church  originally  a  Horreum,  or 
Chapel-tomb  .  .  .  .142 

Fresco-paintings  finished,  a.d.  1022  143 
Tomb  of  S.  Helena  and  Church 
of  SS.  Marcellinus  and  Peter  .  144 

- -  Interior  of  Tomb,  originally 

a  Burial-chapel  .  .  .  ib. 

Modern  Church  built  in  it  .  .  ib. 

Sarcophagus  of  Red  Porphyry,  now 
in  Vatican  Museum  .  .  145 

Mausoleum,  entrance  to  Catacomb  ib. 
Villa  of  Constantine  near  to  it  .  ib. 
S.  Agnes  outside  the  Walls  .  146 
- Church  founded  by  Constan¬ 
tine,  A.D.  314  .  .  .  .  ib. 

- Completed  by  Damasus,  A.D. 

384 . & 

—  Rebuilt  by  Honorius,  A.D.626 
— 638  .  .  .  .  .  ib. 

- Mosaic  Picture,  c.  A.D.  630  .  147 

- Villa  and  Hippodrome  of 

Maxentius  ....  ib. 

- Repaired  by  Hadrian  I. ,  A.  D. 

772  148 

• - Basilica  type  retained  .  .  ib. 

■ - Three  Altars  dedicated,  A.D. 

1256  .  .  .  .  .  ib. 

- Church  re-decorated  by  Pius 

IX.,  A.D.  1856  .  .  .  ib. 

- Rich  ceiling  of  Nave,  A.D.  1606  ib. 

- Mosaic  or  Cosmati-work,  a.d. 

1256 . ib. 

Church  at  entrance  to  Catacomb  ib. 
Campanile,  fifteenth  cent. ,  very  ugly  ib. 

S.  CONSTANTIA  .  .  .  I49 

Mausoleum  and  Baptistery  .  ib. 

Afterwards  made  a  Church,  A.  D.  1 256  ib. 
Mosaic  Pictures  of  the  Vine, 
fourth  century  .  .  .  ib. 

Sarcophagus  also  carved  with  the 
Vine,  removed  in  1796  .  -  150 

Double  .columns,  or  twin-shafts  .  ib. 
Mosaics  over  the  doors,  eighth  cent.  ib. 

S.  Alexander  .  .  .151 

Pope  Alexander  I.,  martyr,  A.D.  129  ib. 

- Site  re-discovered  in  1853  by 

an  English  botanist  .  .  .  ib. 

A  Cathedral  Church  begun  over 
it  by  Pius  IX.  .  .  .  ib. 


CONTENTS  TO  CATACOMBS. 


XVll 


PAGE 

S.  Alexander. 

- -  Remains  of  Mosaic  Pavement 

and  foundations,  second  century  1 5 1 

- Apse  and  Confessio  .  .152 

- Burial  Chapels  .  .  .  ib. 

- Original  Porch  .  .  .  ib. 

Via  Tiburtina. 

S.  Lorenzo  fuori  le  Mura  .  .  154 

- originally  a  Burial-chapel  .  ib. 

Church  built  by  Galla  Placidia  .  ib. 

- rebuilt  by  Pelagius  II.,  A.  D.  590  ib. 

T wo  churches  made  into  one,  A.  D.  780  ib. 

-  Choir,  the  older  church  .  155 

- Crypt  rebuilt,  a.d.  1865  .  ib. 

- Ambones,  marble,  thirteenth 

century  .  .  .  .  .  ib. 

- Baldachino,  handsome,  a.d. 

1148 . ib. 

- Bishop’s  Seat,  A.D.  1254  .  ib. 

Nave  originally  S.  Stephen’s  .  ib. 
Mosaic  Tomb  of  Warriors,  A.D.  1220  156 
Portico  and  outer  walls,  thirteenth 
century  ....  ib. 

- F resco  Paintings  of  A.  D.  1 2 1 7, 

restored  ....  •  157 

Monastery  and  Cloister,  thirteenth 
century  .  .  .  .158 

The  modern  Campo-santo  .  .  159 


PAGE 

Via  Latina. 

Church  of  S.  Stephen,  the 
Roman  Deacon  .  .  .160 

Legends  of  this  Saint  .  .  ib. 

Church  built  by  Demetria  over 
her  Cemetery,  a.d.  460  .  .  ib. 

Remains  excavated  by  Pius  IX.  .  ib. 

Appendix. 


The  Itineraries,  according  to  De 


Rossi’s  List 

»  • 

161 

Panvinius  and  Bosio 

•  • 

162 

Aringhi  used  Bosio’s  Plates 

163 

The  Keeper  of  the  Catacombs 

ib. 

Boldetti’s  Work 

.  . 

ib. 

Bottari  re-published  the 

Plates 

of  Bosio 

•  • 

164 

Padre  Marchi  corrects  their 

errors 

ib . 

Perret’s  great  Work 

•  • 

164 

De  Rossi  custodian  of  the  Catacombs 

165 

- His  valuable  Work 

,  , 

ib. 

Bosio — List  of  his  Plates 

166- 

-171 

Bosio  and  Aringhi  compared  171, 

172 

Perret,  List  of  his  Plates 

173- 

-180 

De  Rossi,  List  of  his  Plates 

181, 

182 

Mr.  Parker’s  Photographs 

183- 

-189 

XV111 


CONTENTS  OF  CATACOMBS. 


SECOND  APPENDIX. 
Excavations 

PAGE 


Church  of  S.  Petronilla  at 
the  Entrance  to  the  Cata¬ 
comb  of  SS.  Nereus,  Achil- 
leus,  &c.  ....  191 

•  - Described  by  De  Rossi  in  his 

Bulletino  di  Archtzologia  Chris¬ 
tiana  .  .  .  .  .  ib. 

■ - Plan  of  Church  .  .  .  ib. 

- Remains  left  as  found  .  .  ib. 

Another  entrance  to  that  Catacomb 
is  of  the  first  century  .  .192 

•  - Painting  of  the  Vine  there  .  ib. 

Flavia  Domitilla  .  .  .  ib. 

SS.  Nereus,  Achilleus,  Petronilla  ib. 
Loculi — Val  Rufina  .  .  .  ib, 

Cubiculum  or  Burial-vault  of  Aure¬ 
lius  Victorinus  ....  ib. 

Cemetery  made  by  John  I.,  A.D. 

523  (?) . 193 

S.  Gregory  the  Great  preached  a 
Homily  in  this  Church  .  .  ib. 

Sepulcrum  Flavium  .  .  .  ib. 

Ypogeum,  or  Burial-vault  of  M. 

Antonius  Restitutus  .  .  ib. 

Tombstone  of  Beatus  and  Vincen- 
tia,  a.d.  395  ....  ib. 


in  1873-74. 

PAGE 

Nicolas  I.  restored  the  Church  of 
SS.  Nereus  and  Achilleus  on  the 
Via  Appia,  not  this  Cemetery 
Chapel  .  .  .  .  .194 

This  Church  mentioned  by  William 
of  Malmesbury  as  a  place  of  pil¬ 
grimage  for  the  English  .  .  ib. 

The  Agap^e  or  Love  Feasts  (?). 

Remarks  upon  the  Paintings  of 
these,  by  the  Bishop  of  Limerick  195 
C  ommemorative  F amily  F easts  only  ib. 
Inscriptions  on  one  of  the  Paintings  ib, 
Irene  and  Agape,  the  names  of  the 
attendants  ....  ib. 
The  same  names  occur  in  the  same 
manner  on  another  picture  .  196 

These  attendants  are  directed  to 
mix  water  with  the  wine  .  .  ib. 

The  same  scene  is  represented  on 
a  Pagan  Sarcophagus  .  .  197 

The  round  table  with  fish  upon  it  ib. 
Meaning  of  the  Fish  .  .  .198 


S.  Priscilla 


.  199 


LIST  OF  PLATES-CATACOMBS. 


- ♦ - 

CONSTRUCTION. 

PLATE 

I.  Natural  Sections  of  S.  Cyriaca,  and  Loculi  in  the  Corridors  or  Passages, 
called  also  Streets  (now  in  the  burial-ground  of  S.  Lorenzo). 

II.  Sections  of  the  Catacombs  of  S.  Generosa,  a.d.  500,  and  S.  Cyriaca, 

a.d.  259. 

III.  Prsetextatus — Brickwork  of  the  First  Century  at  one  of  the  entrances  to 

this  great  Cemetery — Cornice  and  Wall  and  Pediment,  and  an  Arch 
of  the  Second  Century. 

IV.  Inscriptions  in  S.  Calixtus  on  the  Loculi  of  four  Bishops  of  Rome  and 

Martyrs,  in  the  third  century — Eutychianus,  A.D.  238,  Fabianus,  249, 
and  Anteros,  235,  in  Greek  characters;  and  Cornelius,  a.d.  252,  in 
the  Latin  character's. 


FRESCO  PAINTINGS. 

I.  Prsetextatus — Cultivation  of  the  Vine,  painted  on  the  vault,  c.  a.d.  150. 
The  Good  Shepherd,  on  the  wall  of  the  same  chamber,  is  c.  a.d.  320. 

II.  I.  SS.  Nereus  and  Achilleus,  or  Domitilla  (?)— An  Agape. 

2.  S.  Priscilla — Madonna  and  Prophet. 

III.  S.  Priscilla — 1.  The  Three  Children  in  the  “burning  fiery  furnace.” 

2.  An  Orante  addressed  by  other  Persons. 

IV.  S.  Calixtus — An  Agape  (?),  or  the  Last  Supper. 

V.  1.  S.  Priscilla — The  Wine  Casks,  a.d.  525. 

2.  S.  Calixtus — Christ  and  the  Church. 

VI.  S.  Priscilla — 1.  An  Orante  and  another  Figure. 

2.  An  Orante,  with  a  Mother  and  Child  (?),  or  a  Madonna. 

VII.  S.  Pontianus — 1.  Head  of  Christ. 

2.  SS.  Marcellinus,  Pollion,  Petrus. 

(These  three  figures  are  painted  on  a  wall  of  the  ninth  century, 
across  the  corridor.) 

VIII.  S.  Pontianus — 1.  The  Jewelled  Cross. 

2.  The  Baptism  of  Christ. 


XX 


LIST  OF  PLATES. 


PLATE 

IX.  Prsetextatus — One  of  the  original  Entrances — Plan  of  the  ground  near 
S.  Urbano,  and  the  Circus  of  Maxentius — Section  of  that  Church  and 
of  part  of  the  Catacombs. 

X.  - One  of  the  Chapels  at  the  Entrance,  on  the  plan  of  the 

Greek  cross. 

XI.  - Another  of  the  Chapels  at  the  Entrance,  on  the  plan  of  six 

apses  round  a  circular  central  space. 

XII.  - View  in  the  ruined  Corridors,  in  three  storeys,  at  original 

Entrance. 

XIII.  - View  in  the  first  Cubiculum,  with  a  Fresco  Picture  of  Pagan 

Figures. 

XIV.  - Other  Pagan  Figures  of  the  third  century,  in  two  groups,  in 

the  same  Cubiculum. 

XV.  Cemetery  of  Mithraic  Worshippers — Fresco-Painting  of  a  Feast,  with 
inscriptions  of  vincentivs  and  septem  pii  sacerdotes. 

XVI. - A  picture  supposed  to  represent  the  Judgment  of  the 

Soul,  with  inscriptions,  indvctio  vibies  and  bonorvm  ivdicio 

IVDICATI. 

XVII.  SS.  Peter  and  Marcellinus — Picture  of  an  Agape  (?),  or  Funeral  Feast 
of  a  family.  Some  names  inscribed  are  legible,  others  are  defaced. 

XVIII.  S.  Agnes — Plan  and  Section  of  part  of  this  large  Cemetery,  between 
the  Church  of  S.  Agnes  and  the  Mausoleum  of  S.  Constantia. 

XIX.  S.  Pontianus — The  Baptistery,  with  a  painting  of  the  Baptism  of 
Christ,  and  the  Jewelled  Cross. 

XX.  Church  of  S.  Sebastian — Two  inscriptions. 

XXI.- - - Pictures  in  a  Chapel  on  the  stairs  to  the  Platonia. 

XXII.  Basilica  of  S.  Petronilla — Two  Views,  as  first  excavated  before  the 
restoration. 

XXIII.  SS.  Nereus  and  Achilleus — Picture  of  Christ  and  the  Apostles,  with 
Plan  of  part  of  the  Catacomb. 

XXIV.  Priscilla — Plan  of  part,  with  the  Capella  Grseca,  and  an  original 
entrance  by  a  staircase. 

XXV.  Natural  Section  of  S.  Cyriaca,  in  the  burial-ground  of  S.  Lorenzo,  in 
A.  D.  1875. 

XXVI.  Church  of  S.  Urban — View  of  the  Interior. 

XXVII.  - ; - Confessio  under  the  Altar,  and  Fresco- Painting  in  it. 

XXVIII.  S.  Calixtus— Plan. 

XXIX.  S.  Gennaro,  or  Januarius,  at  Naples — Plan. 


LIST  OF  PLATES. 


XXI 


GILT  GLASS  VASES. 

PLATE 

I.  From  the  Kircherian  Museum. 

1.  The  head  of  Christ  in  the  centre,  with  groups  round  it  representing 

His  miracles. 

2.  Moses  striking  the  rock,  with  inscription, 

II.  From  the  Museums  of  the  Louvre  and  the  Vatican. 

III.  Two  Vases  from  the  Vatican  Museum;  one  from  the  Catacomb  of  the 

Jews,  the  subject  of  the  other  is  the  Good  Shepherd. 

IV.  Two  from  the  Vatican  Museum. 

1.  The  miracle  of  the  loaves  and  the  seven  baskets-ful  of  fragments. 

2.  The  raising  of  Lazarus. 

V.  Two  from  the  Vatican  Museum — I.  S.  Maria.  2.  SS.  Peter  and  Paul. 

VI.  Two  from  Boldetti — Both  are  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul. 

VII.  Two — The  first  from  San  Clementi,  the  other  from  Olevieri,  with  in¬ 
scriptions.  i.  pie  zezes,  &c.  2.  s.  AGNES  between  cristvs  and 

LAVRENTIVS. 

VIII.  From  Passeri  and  Fabretti — Both  are  distinctly  Pagan  subjects,  and 
with  Pagan  inscriptions. 


CATACOMBS. 


I.  INTRODUCTION. 

On  the  Catacombs  in  General. 

The  interest  excited  by  the  Roman  Catacombs a  is  so  generally 
felt  and  acknowledged,  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  call  attention  to 
them.  As  the  burying-places  of  the  early  Christians  in  Rome,  in 
which  many  of  the  earliest  martyrs  were  interred,  their  importance 
has  been  acknowledged  in  all  ages. 

Pilgrimages  to  the  tombs  of  the  martyrs  began  to  be  made  as  early 
as  the  fourth  century,  as  soon  as  the  peace  of  the  Church  enabled 
Christians  to  shew  their  respect  in  this  manner.  The  interest  taken 
in  them  rapidly  increased,  and  pilgrimages  to  the  Catacombs  became 
the  fashion,  which  amounted  to  a  mania  in  the  seventh,  eighth,  and 
ninth  centuries ;  and,  like  other  things  which  became  the  fashion,  it 
was  abused,  a  great  deal  of  insincerity  and  fraud  was  mixed  with 
the  sincere  piety  of  the  few,  and  the  relics  of  the  martyrs  became  an 
article  of  profitable  trade. 

It  is  well  known  that  it  was  the  custom  of  the  ancient  Romans 


a  The  word  Catacomb  has  long  been 
supposed  to  be  derived  from  the  Greek 
verb  KaTaKoindw,  signifying  to  lull,  put 
to  sleep,  and  cubiculum  has  the  same 
meaning.  Cccmeterium  or  cemeteriwn 
signifies  both  a  burial-place  in  general, 
and  a  special  burial-vault  belonging  to 
a  particular  family,  or  appropriated  to 
the  holders  of  a  special  office,  such  as 
the  Bishops  of  Rome.  Loculus  is  the 
place  excavated  for  the  body.  A  mbula- 
crum  or  corridor  is  the  passage  with 
loculi  in  the  walls,  and  cubicula  are  the 
separate  crypts  opening  out  of  it  on 
either  side. 

There  is,  however,  considerable  dif¬ 
ference  of  opinion  as  to  the  derivation 
of  the  name  of  Catacomb ;  the  learned 
Hofmann  gives  a  different  account  of 
it,  deriving  it  from  Kara,  ‘down, ’and 
cumba,  ‘a  hollow.’  “Catacumbse  .  .  . 
Vocis  etymon  quod  attinet,  videtur 
composita  ex  praepositione  Kara,  quam 
suam  fecisse  Latinos  recentiores  supra 


ostendimus,  et  voce  Cumba.  Cum  enim 
ejusmodi  polyandria  et  ccemeteria  pub- 
lica  a  cryptis  in  locis  reconditis  extite- 
rint,  quos  istius  setatis  Scriptores  cum- 
bas  vocabant,  videtur  locus  hie  cata- 
cumbas,  h.  e.  ad  cumbas,  ad  cryptas 
vel  ad  valles  appellatus  esse.”  (Joli. 
Jac.  Hofmanni  Lexicon  Universale,  ad 
voc.  Catacumbce.) 

Ducange  mentions  the  same  deriva¬ 
tion,  but  suggests  also  another  from 
cata  and  tumbas,  ‘underground  tombs,’ 
which  exactly  expresses  the  meaning, 
and  this  word  is  used  by  Gregory  the 
Great  (lib.  iii.  epist.  50)  in  certain 
manuscripts,  though  not  in  the  printed 
editions.  This  name  was  originally  ap¬ 
plied  to  the  valley  in  which  the  Circus 
of  Maxentius  was  made. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  see  “The 
Roman  Catacombs,”  by  Dr.  Theodore 
Mommsen,  in  “  The  Contemporary  Re¬ 
view,”  May,  1871,  pp.  161 — 175. 


2 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


to  burn  the  bodies  of  persons  of  importance ;  but  those  of  slaves 
and  of  the  poor  freemen  b  were  thrown  into  pits  called  puticuli ,  many 
of  which  are  known  to  exist.  The  family  of  the  Scipios  formed  an 
exception  to  the  general  custom  of  the  Roman  citizens.  They  were 
accustomed  always  to  bury  the  bodies  of  their  family  in  a  catacomb, 
which  still  remains  and  is  open  for  inspection,  just  within  the  Porta 
di  S.  Sebastiano,  but  outside  of  the  old  city.  It  is  not  quite  on 
the  usual  plan  in  the  later  catacombs,  some  of  the  bodies  being  first 
placed  in  sarcophagi,  and  others  introduced  endways  into  cavities 
cut  in  the  rock  to  receive  them,  instead  of  being  laid  sideways  in 
the  two  sides  of  the  passages,  as  was  afterwards  found  generally 
more  convenient ;  but  this  same  plan  is  followed  in  part  of  the 
J  ews’  catacomb  in  the  Via  Appia,  opposite  to  that  of  S.  Calixtus,  and 
in  some  others.  There  is  no  real  distinction  between  a  tomb  and 
a  catacomb0.  Under  a  tomb  by  the  road-side  there  is  frequently 
a  catacomb,  and  over  a  catacomb  there  was  commonly  a  tomb, 
sometimes  made  into  a  church  or  a  burial  chapel.  There  are  fre¬ 
quently  columbaria  or  places  for  the  urns,  containing  the  ashes  of 
burnt  bodies ;  and  arco-solia  or  places  for  sarcophagi,  or  for  bodies 
to  be  interred  in  the  same  tomb.  Many  such,  of  the  first  and 
second  centuries,  may  be  seen  both  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome 
and  at  Ostia.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  excavation  of  new 
catacombs  continued  as  late  as  the  fifth  century. 

These  distant  cemeteries,  three  miles  from  the  city,  must  have 
been  very  inconvenient ;  and  it  is  supposed  that  as  the  people  be¬ 
came  Christian,  they  objected  either  to  the  burning  of  the  bodies 
or  casting  them  into  pits d,  although  the  latter  practice  was  con¬ 
tinued,  for  those  whose  families  were  too  poor  to  purchase  a  piece 
of  ground  for  them,  until  our  own  days.  It  has  only  been  discon¬ 
tinued  since  the  year  i860. 

The  Catacombs  probably  came  into  use  gradually  during  the  first 
and  second  centuries.  At  first  only  loculi ,  or  mere  graves  in  stone  or 
sand  excavated  out  of  the  rock  on  the  sides  of  the  subterranean 
sand-pit  roads,  were  used ;  then  arco-solia ,  or  graves  under  arches  for 


b  Horatii,  Sat.  i.  8,  ver.  8  seqq. 
c  This  celebrated  tomb  of  the  Scipios 
is  the  earliest  catacomb  in  Rome ;  it 
was  discovered  in  1780,  and  inscrip¬ 
tions  were  then  found,  which  were 
unfortunately  all  removed.  It  was  de¬ 
scribed,  and  the  inscriptions,  ten  in 
number,  were  printed  by  E.  Q.  Vis¬ 
conti  in  the  Antologia  Romana ,  and 
reprinted  by  Piranesi  in  1785,  and  in 


Lumisden’s  “  Remarks  on  the  Anti¬ 
quities  of  Rome,”  4to.  London,  1797. 
De  Rossi  notes  that  there  are  no  loculi 
in  the  sides,  but  arco-solia  and  cubicula 
for  sarcophagi  only,  and  calls  this  tomb 
a  Hypogeum. 

d  At  the  places  called  “Cento-Celle” 
and  “Torre  dei  Schiavi,”  there  are 
numerous  tombs  with  columbaria ,  and 
there  are  said  to  be  pits  or  puticuli  also. 


Introduction. 


3 


i.] 


two  persons,  were  brought  into  use ;  then  chambers  for  family  burial- 
vaults  were  excavated,  with  entrances  from  the  sand-pit  roads ;  then 
these  were  made  with  distinct  entrances,  independent  of  the  sand-pit 
roads  altogether,  as  we  see  by  the  flight  of  steps  descending  into 
them ;  but  these  are  generally  of  later  date.  Signor  de  Rossi e  has 
shewn  that,  at  least  in  one  instance,  the  arch  of  an  arco-so/ium,  an 
arch  of  the  first  century,  under  which  the  stone  coffin  or  sarcophagus 
of  a  martyr  had  been  placed,  was  afterwards  used  as  the  entrance  to 
a  chamber  excavated  behind  it ;  and  the  sarcophagus  was  removed 
from  under  the  arch  and  carried  to  the  back  of  the  chamber,  in  order 
that  other  bodies  might  be  interred  near  the  martyr.  This  has  been 
discovered  in  one  of  his  recent  excavations  in  the  catacomb  of 
Prastextatus,  and  is  probably  a  clue  to  several  others  where  the  same 
process  has  been  carried  on. 

We  know  that  in  the  case  of  the  columbaria  for  another  mode  of 
interment  at  the  same  period,  some  were  the  property  of  particular 
families ;  others  were  public,  and  the  niches  for  urns  were  sold  sepa¬ 
rately  or  in  groups :  there  are  some  inscriptions  recording  these  facts. 
In  the  case  of  the  Catacombs,  it  appears  to  be  evident  that  the 
same  system  was  carried  on ;  and  the  custom  of  interring  the  whole 
body  in  a  decent  manner  in  a  grave  excavated  for  it  in  the  side 
walls  of  the  subterranean  corridors,  or  in  small  family  chapels  on 
each  side  of  them,  began  to  be  common  before  the  Christian  era, 
or  about  that  period.  As  in  the  columbaria ,  so  in  the  Catacombs ; 
some  belonged  to  particular  families,  others  were  public. 

That  an  idea  of  special  sanctity  was  attached  to  these  burial-places 
of  the  early  Christians,  seems  evident  from  many  passages  in  authors 
as  early  as  the  fourth  century.  S.  Jerome f  describes  thus  his  visit  to 
them  in  his  youth  : — 

“  When  I  was  a  boy,  receiving  my  education  at  Rome,  I  and  my  schoolfellows 
used  on  Sundays  to  make  the  circuit  of  the  sepulchres  of  the  Apostles  and 
Martyrs.  Many  a  time,  too,  did  we  go  down  into  the  Catacombs.  These  are  ex¬ 
cavated  deep  in  the  earth,  and  contain,  on  either  hand  as  you  enter,  the  bodies 


*  See  De  Rossi,  Bullettino  di  Arche - 
ologia  Cristiana. 

1  “  Dum  essem  Roma  puer,  et  a  li- 
beralibus  studiis  erudirer,  solebam  cum 
cseteris  ejusdem  setatis  et  propositi,  die- 
bus  Dominicis,  sepulcra  Apostolorum  et 
Martyrum  circumire  ;  crebroque  cryptas 
ingredi,  quae  in  terrarum  profundo  de¬ 
fossae,  ex  utraque  parte  ingredientium 
per  parietes  habent  corpora  sepultorum, 
et  ita  obscura  sunt  omnia,  ut  prope- 
modum  illud  Propheticum  compleatur  : 


‘Descendant  in  infemum  viventes,’  et 
raro  desuper  lumen  admissum,  horrorem 
temperet  tenebrarum  ;  ut  non  tarn  fenes- 
tram,  quam  foramen  demissi  luminis 
putes  ;  rursumque  pedetentim  acceditur, 
et  cceca  nocte  circumdatis,  illud  Vir- 
gilianum  proponitur : 

“  Horror  ubique  animos,  simul  ipsa  si- 
lentia  terrent.” 

(S.  Hieronymus,  Comment,  in  Ezech., 
lib.  xii.  cap.  40. ) 


4 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


of  the  dead  buried  in  the  wall.  It  is  all  so  dark  there,  that  the  language  of 
the  Prophet  seems  to  be  fulfilled: — ‘Let  them  go  down  quick  into  hell.’  Only 
occasionally  is  light  let  in  to  mitigate  the  horror  of  the  gloom,  and  then  not  so 
much  through  a  window  as  through  a  hole  L  ” 

He  speaks  also  of  the  shafts  called  luminaria ,  and  says  that  it 
reminded  him  of  a  passage  in  Virgil : — 

“  A  nameless  horror  makes  that  region  drear, 

The  very  silence  fills  the  soul  with  fear.” 

Jerome,  who  wrote  his  Commentary  on  Ezekiel  about  a.d.  380, 
was  born  in  331. 

The  popularity  of  the  fathers  of  the  Church  in  the  fourth  cen¬ 
tury,  who  by  their  writings  endeavoured  to  stir  up  the  zeal  of  the 
Christians  of  their  day,  probably  led  to  the  exaggeration  which 
followed.  Prudentius,  the  Christian  poet  of  the  same  period,  by 
his  enthusiastic  hymns h  contributed  to  fan  the  flame,  and  the 
priests  of  the  following  centuries  were  not  slow  to  profit  by  it. 

There  is  a  natural  reverence  for  them  which  would  be  allowed  by 
all  Christians,  if  it  were  not  for  the  exaggeration  of  modern  Rome, 
and  the  impatience  felt  at  the  bones  found  here  being  made  an 
article  of  lucrative  traffic.  This  led  to  much  exaggeration  as  to  the 
number  of  martyrs  interred  in  the  Catacombs,  until  eventually  the 
people  were  taught  to  believe  that  all  the  people  interred  in  them 
were  martyrs.  That  the  number  of  martyrs  in  Rome  has  been 
grossly  exaggerated,  is  evident  from  contemporary  writers,  such  as 
Lactantius  and  Eusebius ;  the  probability  is  that  they  should  be 
counted  by  tens,  rather  than  by  thousands'.  During  the  intervals 


8  The  translation  is  Mr.  Burgon’s,  in 

his  “Letters  from  Rome,”&c.  London, 

1862,  8vo. 

h  “  Haud  procul  ext  re  mo  culta  ad  po- 
mceria  vallo 

Mersa  latebrosis  crypta  patet  fo- 
veis  : 

Hujus  in  occultum  gradibus  via  prona 
reflexis 

Ire  per  anfractus  luce  latente  docet. 

Primas  namque  fores  summo  tenus  in- 
trat  hiatu, 

Illustratque  dies  limina  Vestibuli. 

Inde,  ubi  progressu  facili  nigrescere 
visa  est 

Nox  obscura,  loci  per  specus  am- 
biguum, 

Occurrunt  csesis  immissa  foramina 
tectis, 

Qure  jaciant  claros  antra  super  ra¬ 
dios. 


Quamlibet  ancipites  texant  hinc  inde 
recessus, 

Arcta  sub  umbrosis  atria  porticibus  ; 
Attamen  excisi  subter  cava  viscera 
montis 

Crebra  terebrato  fornice  lux  penetrat. 
Sic  datur  absentis  per  subterranea  solis 

Cernere  fulgorem,  luminibusque  frui.” 

(Aurel.  Prudentii  Peristephanon, 
hymn.  xi.  ;  Passio  Hippolyti  Mar- 
tyris.  For  an  English  version  of 
this  hymn,  see  Section  vii. ) 

1  There  is  an  able  essay  on  this  sub¬ 
ject  by  the  learned  Henry  Dodwell, 
appended  to  the  Oxford  edition  of 
S.  Cyprian,  and  also  printed  separately. 
See  Cypriani  Opera,  ed.  J.  Fell,  Oxon. 
1682,  fol.,  and  Dissertationes  Cypri- 
anicse,  ab  H.  Dodwello.  8vo. ,  Oxonioe, 
1684.  Dissertatio  XI.,  De  paucitate 
Martyrum,  pp.  217 — 351. 


Introduction. 


5 


I.] 

between  the  times  of  persecution,  the  Christians  enjoyed  as  much 
liberty  as  any  other  class  of  the  population ;  many  of  them  held 
the  highest  offices,  and  this  continued  to  be  the  case  throughout 
the  first  three  centuries.  S.  Paul  mentions  the  Christians  in  Csesar’s 
household,  and  Eusebius  relates,  in  his  time  also,  that  Christians 
were  entrusted  with  the  government  of  provinces  k.  The  persecution 
under  Diocletian  and  Maximian,  a.d.  286 — 305,  is  described  as 
consisting  of  “  edicts  to  tear  down  the  churches  to  the  foundation, 
and  to  destroy  the  sacred  Scriptures  by  fire.”  Other  edicts  ordered 
that  the  “prelates  should  be  committed  to  prison  and  constrained 
to  offer  sacrifice  to  the  gods.”  That  several  eminent  saints  met 
with  their  martyrdom  for  refusing  to  do  this,  is  also  recorded  by 
Eusebius';  but  the  whole  narrative  implies  that  the  number  who 
died  in  Rome  was  not  large,  and  some  of  these  “  illustrious 
martyrs  were  domestics  in  the  imperial  palace.”  Lactantius  also 
mentions  that  Prisca,  the  wife  of  Diocletian,  and  his  daughter  Vale¬ 
riana,  were  Christians  m.  The  terms  of  the  edict  revoking  those  for 
the  persecution,  shew  that  they  had  not  been  intended  to  go  the 
length  of  taking  the  lives  of  the  Christians — that  this  was  an  ex¬ 
ceptional  abuse  of  their  powers.  In  the  earlier  persecutions  also, 
the  number  of  lives  sacrificed  in  Rome  was  comparatively  small. 
Eusebius  is  a  very  conscientious  historian  in  relating  what  fell 
under  his  own  observation,  but  somewhat  credulous  of  hearsay  from 
others ;  and  to  swell  the  number  of  martyrs,  he  is  obliged  to  relate 
accounts  of  what  happened  in  distant  provinces,  Phoenice,  Egypt, 
and  Phrygia,  all  which  accounts  may  be  exaggerated  as  to  the  num¬ 
bers  killed.  Dodwell  sifts  the  whole  history  of  the  martyrdoms  of 
the  first  three  centuries,  and  endeavours  to  shew  that  the  same 
exaggeration,  as  to  the  number  of  martyrs,  prevails  in  the  whole  of 
these  legendary  stories. 

The  indications  of  martyrdom  which  were  formerly  relied  upon 
prove  on  investigation  to  be  of  doubtful  authority.  The  palm-branch 
is  found  abundantly  on  early  tombstones  in  the  Jews’  catacomb, 
but  the  Jews  had  many  martyrs.  The  small  vial  containing  the  re¬ 
mains  of  a  red  fluid,  supposed  to  be  blood,  has  been  tested  by 
able  chemists,  under  the  direction  of  Chr.  C.  Jos.  Bunsen,  and 
more  recently  again  under  a  true  and  enlightened  member  of  the 
Roman  Church  n,  and  is  found  certainly  not  to  be  blood ,  but  probably 
wine.  This  was  a  Pagan  custom  very  likely  to  be  followed  by  the 

k  Eusebii  Hist.  Eccles.,  lib.  viii.  rum,  cap.  15. 
cap.  1.  11  Sir  John  Acton,  Bart.,  now  Lord 

1  Ibid.,  cap.  3,  4,  6.  Acton. 

m  Lactantius,  de  Mortibus  Persecuto- 


6 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


Christians  as  a  custom  only,  without  attaching  any  particular  mean¬ 
ing  to  it. 

The  tombs  of  martyrs  had  great  influence  on  the  history  of  the 
Catacombs  :  hundreds  of  persons  sought  to  have  the  bodies  of  their 
friends  interred  in  the  same  cemetery,  and  large  prices  were  paid 
for  a  family  burying-place  near  a  martyr.  A  portion  of  ground  suffi¬ 
cient  to  build  a  cubiculum ,  or  family  vault,  was  purchased  in  per¬ 
petuity  of  the  proprietors  of  the  ground,  and  became  the  bond  fide 
property  of  that  family.  The  name  of  ccemeteriu?n  was  applied  to 
such  a  family  vault  equally  as  to  the  whole  burying-place,  cemetery, 
or  catacomb. 

They  are  never  described  in  any  ancient  documents  by  any  other 
name  than  coemeteria ;  some  modern  writers  use  the  word  catacumbce  as 
synonymous.  We  are  expressly  told  by  Ciaconius0  that  the  modern 
name  for  cubiculum  is  capella ,  and  the  cubicularius  established  by 
Leo  I.  is  now  called  capellanus  or  chaplain.  We  have  frequent 
mention  of  the  making  of  oratoria  and  cubicula  in  the  Catacombs, 
or  at  the  entrances  of  the  Catacombs,  but  nothing  to  shew  that  they 
were  used  for  any  other  purpose  than  as  burial -chapels  for  the 
funeral  service,  and  for  the  worship  of  the  relics  of  martyrs.  Some 
of  the  cubicula ,  or  chapels,  were  probably  used  as  schoolrooms  in 
times  of  persecution ;  one  or  two  have  a  stone  bench  round  them, 
with  the  cathedra  or  seat  for  the  bishop  or  teacher. 

One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  of  the  archaeologist  always  arises 
from  the  use  of  particular  words  in  a  limited  technical  sense,  instead 
of  the  more  general  and  extended  sense  in  which  they  are  commonly 
understood.  This  appears  to  be  the  case  with  the  words  prcedium 
and  coemeterium  in  reference  to  the  Catacombs.  The  prcedia  of 
the  early  Christian  matrons  may  have  been  farms  only  in  the  ordi- 
dary  sense  of  the  word,  relating  to  the  surface  of  the  soil  only ;  but 
it  seems  more  probable  that  this  name  at  least  included  the  subsoil, 
whether  quarries,  sand-pits,  or  catacombs.  In  either  case,  the  ground 
being  undermined  by  long  galleries  out  of  which  the  stone  or  sand 
had  been  carried,  the  subsequent  employment  of  which  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  a  burying-place  would  be  a  most  profitable  employment  of  it, 
the  excavations  being  naturally  afterwards  continued  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  only  of  interments.  It  may  also  include  the  family  tomb, 

0  “  Hie  etiam  constituit  et  addidit  quos,  quod  hodie  apud  nos  capella.'” 
supra  sepulchra  Apostolorum  ex  clero  (Alph.  Ciaconius,  Vitoe  et  res  gestoe 
Romano  custodes  qui  dicuntur  cubi-  Pontificum  Romanorum  et  S.  R.  E. 
cularii,  quos  modo  dicimus  capellanos.  Cardinalium,  &c.  Ronue,  1677,  folio, 
Cubiculum  enim  idem  erat  apud  anti-  Leo  I.  vol,  i.  col.  307,  c. ) 


Introduction, 


7 


i.] 


with  the  area  in  which  it  stood,  which  was  often  quite  large  enough 
to  have  had  a  catacomb  made  under  it. 

To  purchase  a  piece  of  ground  by  the  side  of  the  road  as  a  family 
burying-place  in  perpetuity,  was  always  expensive  and  could  only 
be  indulged  in  by  wealthy  families.  A  piece  of  ground  by  the  side  of 
or  under  an  old  sand-pit  road  was  far  less  costly,  the  land  being  of  no 
value  for  other  purposes.  For  this  reason  the  Catacombs  were  exten¬ 
sively  made  in  them,  and  were  used  by  the  middle  and  lower  classes, 
chiefly  by  the  Christians,  but  not  exclusively  so.  The  more  wealthy 
Christians  paid  for  a  loculus ,  or  place  for  the  body  of  a  poor 
fellow-Christian,  and  burial-clubs  were  established  for  conducting 
the  funerals  with  decency.  Sometimes,  probably,  the  clubs  also 
purchased  the  loculi.  Several  inscriptions  recording  the  purchase 
of  a  particular  loculus ,  or  cubiculum ,  have  been  found  in  the  Cata¬ 
combs  ;  but  as  the  officials  of  modern  times  have  removed  all 
the  inscriptions  from  their  places,  this  part  of  their  history  has 
been  rendered  obscure  on  the  pretext  of  preserving  them,  which 
could  have  been  done  as  effectually  by  keeping  the  doors  locked, 
and  establishing  a  toll  for  entering  them.  A  great  part  of  the  interest, 
and  nearly  the  whole  of  the  historical  value  of  the  Catacombs,  has 
been  destroyed  by  the  want  of  a  chronological  arrangement,  and  by  / 
the  inscriptions  having  been  collected  in  museums,  arranged  and 
classed  according  to  the  objects  of  the  authorities.  They  thus  pos¬ 
sess  very  little  interest  compared  with  what  they  would  have  done 
if  left  in  their  places.  An  inscription  of  the  second  or  third  century 
is  of  very  different  value  from  one  of  the  eighth  or  ninth ;  but  it 
may  be  convenient  for  certain  objects  to  mix  them  together  without 
distinction.  In  the  same  manner  the  lamps  and  glass  cups  which 
were  found  in  the  Catacombs  belonging  to  particular  graves,  have 
all  been  removed  to  museums,  and  arranged  according  to  the  fancy 
or  the  convenience  of  the  custodians.  These  would  also  have  been 
of  tenfold  interest  and  value,  if  left  as  they  were  found.  The  cata¬ 
comb  of  the  Jews  was  long  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  im¬ 
portant  of  the  Catacombs,  because  there  many  of  the  inscriptions 
and  emblems  were  allowed  to  remain  in  the  walls. 

In  the  catacomb  excavated  in  1868,  at  the  college  of  the  Arvales, 
five  miles  from  Rome,  on  the  road  to  Porto,  near  the  bank  of  the 
Tiber,  the  graves  have  been  left,  in  great  part,  unopened,  under 
the  direction  of  De  Rossi  p,  the  head  officer  of  that  department  of 

p  The  Cavaliere  G.  B.  De  Rossi  is  of  S.  Calixtus,  in  two  folio  volumes, 
the  well-known  author  of  a  very  learned  which  is  intended  to  be  carried  on.  lie 
and  important  book  on  the  Catacomb  is  also  the  author  of  a  great  work  or 


8 


Catacombs. 


[sect. 


the  Pontifical  Government.  The  tombs  or  loculi  in  the  corridors 
are  closed  by  tiles,  usually  three,  or  by  slabs  of  stone  or  marble, 
well  secured  with  mortar  to  the  rock,  out  of  which  the  grave  is 
cut;  in  this  mortar  are  several  graffiti  or  inscriptions  scratched 
in  it  when  it  was  wet,  and  this  being  Roman  mortar,  made  with 
lime  used  the  same  day  that  it  was  burnt,  is  everlasting.  These 
names  are  consequently  as  fresh  as  if  inscribed  yesterday  by  the 
hands  of  the  surviving  relatives  of  the  deceased.  Further  par¬ 
ticulars  about  them  will  be  found  in  the  account  of  that  cata¬ 
comb  (Sect,  v.),  which  had  been  opened  by  Bosio  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  but  entirely  forgotten.  In  the  catacomb  of  S.  Cyriaca 
(Sect,  vii.),  near  the  Campo  Santo,  which  is  of  much  earlier  date 
than  the  one  at  the  college  of  the  Arvales,  many  of  the  graves  or 
loculi  are  also  left  unopened. 

In  the  excavations  made  in  1870  by  the  monks  of  S.  Agnes,  the 
small  portion  of  the  catacomb  which  immediately  adjoins  the  church 
was  cleared  out,  and  in  this  instance  also  the  graves  are  left  un¬ 
opened  1 ;  but  these  are  exceptional  cases,  the  rule  having  been  to 
strip  the  Catacombs  entirely. 

The  burial-clubs  of  modern  Rome  are  a  traditional  copy  of  those 
of  the  early  Christians,  and  perhaps  Pagans  also ;  for  funeral  pro¬ 
cessions  were  quite  as  important  in  Pagan  times  as  in  Christian r. 
The  very  curious  costumes  worn  by  these  burial-clubs  are  probably 
of  very  early  origin ;  and  particularly  the  covering  the  face  with 
a  mask  or  a  hood,  with  holes  for  the  eyes  only,  seems  to  mark 
a  very  early  period,  although  it  is  now  followed  in  many  Roman 
Catholic  countries.  The  custom  of  following  the  body  to  the  gate  \J 
of  the  city  only,  and  leaving  the  actual  interment  to  the  officials, 
is  more  like  a  Pagan  than  a  Christian  one.  The  English  custom  J 
of  having  the  family  and  mourning  friends  assembled  round  the 


Christian  Inscriptions,  and  the  editor 
of  an  excellent  Bullettino  di  Archeologia 
Cristiana.  I  have  to  acknowledge  my 
obligations  to  this  gentleman,  both  as 
a  learned  author  and  as  the  custodian 
of  the  Catacombs,  where  he  kindly  ob¬ 
tained  permission  for  me  to  study,  and 
to  have  photographs  taken  in  1 868  and 
1869.  This  permission  was  retracted 
by  the  Cardinal  Vicar  in  1870.  The 
excellent  account  of  the  Catacombs  by 
Canon  Venables,  in  Smith's  Dictionary 
of  Christian  Antiquities,  is  mainly 
grounded  on  De  Rossi’s  work,  as  the 
best  authority,  but  any  Roman  Catho¬ 
lic  work  on  the  subject  must  be  re¬ 


ceived  with  caution  by  Anglicans. 

1  See  the  Catacomb  of  S.  Agnes. 

r  For  much  valuable  information  on 
this  subject,  see  the  great  work  of  De 
Rossi,  and  the  abridgement  of  it  by 
Dr.  Northcote  and  Mr.  Brownlow  (8vo. 
London,  1869);  also  “Les  Nouvelles 
Etudes  sur  les  Catacombes  Romaines, 
par  le  Comte  Desbassayns  de  Riche¬ 
mont.”  (Paris,  1870,  8  vo. )  These 
clubs  were  formed  into  colleges,  some 
of  which  appear  to  have  been  Chris¬ 
tian  in  the  third  century.  They  were 
entitled  to  certain  privileges,  which 
were  open  to  the  Christian  equally  as 
to  the  Pagan. 


I-] 


Introduction. 


9 


grave,  and  hearing  the  last  awful  words,  “  Earth  to  earth,  ashes  to 
ashes,  dust  to  dust — in  sure  and  certain  hope  of  the  resurrection  to 
eternal  life,”  is  almost  unknown  in  Rome.  The  body  is  displayed 
with  great  pomp  in  the  church  or  in  the  cloister,  and  is  carried  from 
it  with  great  ceremony  through  the  streets ;  but  it  is  usually  carried 
to  the  gate  only,  not  attended  to  the  grave. 

The  custom  of  having  funeral  feasts  at  the  time  of  the  funeral,  and  */" 
on  the  anniversaries  of  it,  which  we  know  to  have  been  usual  with 
the  ancient  Romans,  was  continued  by  the  early  Roman  Christians 
also,  and  the  family  was  probably  assembled  in  the  family  vault 
or  cubiculum.  The  paintings  so  frequently  found  in  them  repre¬ 
senting  a  feast,  and  called  by  some  the  marriage-feast  at  Cana,  by 
others  an  agape,  are  more  probably  intended  for  the  family  funeral 
feast.  This  is  also  said  by  some  to  be  the  last  supper  of  Christ 
upon  earth,  when  He  partook  of  the  broiled  fish  with  six  of  the 
Apostles,  as  described  in  the  last  chapter  of  S.  John’s  Gospel.  In 
some  instances  the  representations  agree  well  with  this,  in  other 
cases  they  do  not.  In  S.  John’s  account  there  were  seve?i  disciples 
present  on  that  occasion  ;  some  of  the  paintings  represent  six  and 
others  twelve,  besides  the  central  figure  of  Christ  Himself,  but 
never  seven. 

Many  of  the  paintings  are  probably  intended  for  portraits  of  the 
persons  interred,  surrounded  by  paintings  of  Scriptural  subjects,  as 
indications  of  the  faith  of  the  deceased,  who  is  usually  represented  in 
the  oriental  attitude  of  prayer,  and  attired  only  in  a  dress  closely 
resembling  the  surplice  and  stole.  The  surplice  is  sometimes  white, 
the  emblem  of  purity,  sometimes  red,  as  washed  in  the  blood  of 
Christ ;  and  the  stole  is  the  emblem  of  servitude,  the  yoke  of  Christ,  ‘j 
over  the  shoulders 8.  In  late  examples,  and  in  the  case  of  ladies  of 
wealthy  families,  the  surplice  sometimes  has  an  ornamental  fringe  to 
it,  and  the  stole  is  also  embroidered ;  for  men  it  is  always  plain,  and 
the  costume  of  the  modern  English  clergy  is  very  nearly  a  copy  of  * 
that  of  the  oranti  in  the  Catacombs,  and  the  Apostles4,  who  are 
represented  in  the  same  costume.  The  greater  part  of  the  paintings 


9  This  explanation  of  the  symbolical 
meaning  of  the  dress  of  the  early  Chris¬ 
tians  is  given  in  the  Rationale  Divino- 
rum  Officiorum  byDurandus,  who  wrote 
in  the  twelfth  century.  The  paintings 
in  the  Catacombs,  however,  appear 
often  intended  to  represent  only  the 
black  border  to  the  dress  usual  in  the 
costume  of  the  period.  In  other  cases, 
the  arms  appear  to  pass  under  a  loose 


strip  of  black,  corresponding  to  our  stole, 
and  this  does  not  always  descend  to  the 
edge  of  the  garment. 

1  The  Apostles  introducing  the  saints 
to  Christ,  in  the  mosaic  pictures  in  the 
churches,  from  the  sixth  to  the  ninth 
centuries,  are  represented  in  a  cos¬ 
tume  closely  resembling  the  surplice 
and  stole. 


10 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


now  remaining  in  the  Catacombs  are  of  the  time  of  Popes  Hadrian, 
Leo  III.,  and  Paschal  I.,  or  of  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries.  Nearly 
the  whole  of  them  were  then  repaired  and  the  paintings  renewed, 
but  the  old  ideas  were  probably  continued ;  as  we  cannot  be  certain 
of  this,  however,  they  are  of  no  authority  for  any  earlier  history. 
Among  the  most  celebrated  of  the  paintings  in  the  Catacombs  are 
those  in  S.  Pontianus,  on  the  Via  Portuensis ;  these  are  frescoes  on 
plaster  upon  brick  walls  of  the  eighth  century,  these  walls  being  part 
of  the  repairs  of  Pope  Paschal.  These  paintings  include  the  cele¬ 
brated  Baptism  of  Christ,  and  the  two  fine  heads  of  Christ,  with  the 
cross  in  the  nimbus.  Those  in  S.  Priscilla,  and  SS.  Nereus  and 
Achilleus,  belong  to  the  restoration  of  Pope  John  I.,  a.d.  523.  The 
drawing  and  many  of  the  subjects  are  identical. 

The  soft  tufa  rock  has  in  many  of  the  other  catacombs  also 
to  be  supported  by  walls,  generally  of  brick,  but  sometimes  with 
N  stone  doorways ;  these  walls  and  doorways  are  the  only  bits  of  archi¬ 
tecture  about  the  Catacombs  by  which  we  can  judge  of  their  dates. 
The  earliest  which  are  in  the  tomb  or  catacomb  of  the  Scipios,  are 
of  the  time  of  the  Republic,  and  are  dated  by  the  mouldings  of 
the  arch  at  the  original  entrance,  and  by  the  sarcophagi  found  in 
them.  The  next  are  in  the  catacomb  of  the  Jews,  part  of  which  is 
of  the  time  of  Augustus,  another  part  of  the  time  of  Constantine, 
shewing  that  it  continued  in  use  for  three  or  four  centuries,  and  per¬ 
haps  a  longer  period.  Most  of  the  tombs  there  bear  marks  of 
great  poverty.  The  next  catacombs  in  point  of  date,  so  far  as  can 
be  judged  by  the  architecture,  are  those  of  Praetextatus,  and  of  SS. 
Nereus  and  Achilleus,  in  which  there  are  fine  doorways  and  cornices 
of  moulded  brick  of  the  first  or  second  century.  Most  of  the  others 
which  have  any  architectural  character  at  all  are  of  the  fourth  century, 
of  the  time  of  Constantine,  or  subsequent  to  it.  That  of  S.  Agnes, 
which  is  one  of  the  finest,  is  chiefly  of  that  period.  That  of 
SS.  Thraso  and  Saturninus  on  the  Via  Salaria,  has  brick  walls  of 
the  sixth  century  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs  and  at  the  end  of  the 
long  corridor.  The  catacomb  of  S.  Calixtus  has  been  so  thoroughly 
restored  in  modern  times,  that  it  has  lost  all  genuine  character,  espe¬ 
cially  that  part  which  is  periodically  illuminated  ;  the  other  part  has 
paintings  of  the  eighth  century. 

Of  the  inscriptions  found  in  the  Catacombs,  and  collected  in  the 
churches,  cloisters,  and  museums,  very  few  are  earlier  than  the  fourth 
century,  and  scarcely  any  earlier  than  the  third.  The  earlier  ones 
are  very  short  and  rude,  evidently  belonging  to  poor  people  only. 
Sometimes  they  are  little  more  than  scratched  upon  the  marble,  or 


Introduction. 


!•] 


I  1 


on  the  plaster  at  the  edges  of  the  piece  of  marble,  or  painted  on  the 
tile  which  encloses  the  mouth  of  the  grave  ;  but  the  names  are  fre¬ 
quently  accompanied  by  Christian  emblems,  such  as  the  IxOvs  or 
fishu,  which  is  the  most  common  as  representing  the  name  and 
titles  of  our  Lord,  or  the  chalice,  with  two  birds,  said  to  be  an 
emblem  of  souls,  or  the  dove  with  the  olive-branch,  or  a  palm- 
branch.  The  latter  is  usually  called  the  mark  of  a  martyr.  Many  of 
them  have  the  Labarum  of  Constantine,  which  shews  they  cannot  be 
before  his  time,  and  many  are  much  later. 

The  lamps  and  glasses  found  in  the  Catacombs,  but  unfortunately 
never  left  there,  have  the  same  emblems  as  the  inscriptions,  and  the 
same  subjects  as  the  paintings.  Many  of  them  are  clearly  of  the 
fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  and  very  few,  if  any,  earlier  than  the  fourth. 
The  plates  to  Buonaroti  and  to  Padre  Garrucci’s  learned  work  enable 
us  now  to  compare  them  with  other  paintings  in  works  of  art  of  which 
the  dates  are  ascertained.  Many  of  the  subjects  engraved  on  the 
glasses  are  evidently  Pagan ;  the  idea  that  they  were  all  chalices,  or 
all  belonged  to  priests  or  martyrs,  will  not  bear  examination. 

Many  Pagan  sarcophagi  have  been  found  in  the  Catacombs,  and 
fragments  of  them  remain  in  many  instances  with  Pagan  sculptures 
upon  them.  In  the  Jews'  catacomb,  there  is  a  Pagan  sarcophagus 
perfect  in  one  of  the  cnbicida  or  family  vaults.  Attempts  have  been 
made  to  explain  these  away  as  having  been  ready-made  articles,  kept 
ready  for  use,  and  bought  without  considering  the  character  of  the 
sculpture  upon  them;  but  such  people  as  the  Jews,  so  rigorous  in 


u  IX0T2,  ‘fish,’  evinced,  by  the  five 
letters  wherewith  it  is  composed,  the 
initials  of  the  words  ’I Tjcrovs  Xpior'os 
©eo 0  Tibs  2cvTr/p,  which  mean  Jesus 
Christ,  Son  of  God,  Saviour.  Owing 
to  that  circumstance,  the  name  as  well 
as  the  image  of  a  fish  had  become,  by 
a  process  analogous  to  that  of  the 
ancient  Egyptians,  a  sort  of  phonetic 
sign  appropriated  to  express  a  complete 
series  of  consecrated  words  ;  but  it  is 
asserted  that  a  similar  representation  of 
a  fish  (referred  to  a  totally  different 
order  of  ideas,  it  is  true)  was  also  used 
on  the  funeral  monuments  of  antiquity. 
The  passages  on  this  topic  have  been 
collected  by  Fabretti,  Inscript .,  c.  viii. 
p.  569  ;  by  Father  Allegranza,  Spiega- 
zione  e  Riflessioni  sopra  alcuni  sagri 
monumenti  antichi  di  Milano ,  4to., 
Milano,  1737,  pp.  117,  118;  and  espe¬ 
cially  by  Father  Costadoni,  in  his  dis¬ 
sertation  entitled,  Del  Pesce,  Simbolo  di 
Gesu  Cristo ,  presso  gli  antichi  Cristiani. 


Cf.  Bullettino  di  Archeologia  Cristiana, 

1870,  pp.  50—65. 

Other  Christian  symbols,  which  are 
of  very  frequent  occurrence  in  the  cata¬ 
comb  pictures,  are  mentioned  in  the 
Apostolical  Constitutions,  Which  are 
usually  referred  to  the  third  and  fourth 
centuries. 

“  Prseterea  credimus  resurrectionem 
fore  vel  ob  ipsam  Domini  resurrec¬ 
tionem.  Ipse  enim  est  qui  Lazarum .  . . 
resuscitavit.  .  .  .  Qui  Jonam  viventem 
eduxit  de  ventre  ceti .  .  .  qui  tres  pueros 
ex  fomace  Babylonia,  et  Danielem  ex 
ore  leonis,  is  non  carebit  viribus  ad 
suscitandum  nos  quoque.  .  .  .  Qui  Para- 
lyticum  sanum  in  pedes  statuit  .  .  .  et 
CEeco  a  nativitate,  quod  deficiebat .  .  . 
reddidit,  is  ipse  nos  quoque  ad  vitam 
revocabit.  Qui  ex  quinque  panibus  et 
duobus  piscibus  quinque  millia  virorum 
satiavit .  .  .  et  ex  aqua  vinum  confecit 
.  . .  item  ex  morte  sublatos  vita;  reddet.” 
( Const  it.  Apost.,  lib.  v.  cap.  7-) 


12 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


the  observance  of  their  rites,  were  not  in  the  least  likely  to  be  so 
careless  as  this  as  to  the  resting-place  of  their  dead.  It  is  far  more 
probable,  as  indeed  appears  in  many  ways,  that  these  apparent 
anomalies  arose  from  intermarriages,  and  tjrat  the  claims  of  family 
were  considered  stronger  than  those  of  religion  in  the  matter  of 
burial,  as  all  differences  of  opinion  cease  in  the  grave.  If  a  Jewess 
was  married  to  a  Christian  or  to  a  Pagan,  her  family  interred  her  in 
the  family  vault,  and  probably  her  husband  and  children  also,  to 
whatever  religion  they  belonged.  The  family  vaults,  or  cubicula  or 
coemeleria ,  bear  evident  marks  of  having  been  used  by  many  succes¬ 
sive  generations ;  and  when  there  was  no  longer  any  place  for 
more  bodies  either  in  the  walls  or  in  the  floor,  the  painted  vault 
above  was  broken  through,  and  bodies  were  inserted  there  over 
the  rest  of  the  family.  This  is  the  case  both  in  the  Jewish  and 
the  Christian  catacombs. 

In  a  catacomb  connected  with  that  of  Praetextatus,  there  are 
Gnostic  paintings  in  one  part,  shewing  that  it  was  a  burying-place 
for  that  sect,  or,  as  some  say,  for  the  worshippers  of  the  god  Mithra. 
The  assumption  always  made  by  the  Roman  Church  that  the  Cata¬ 
combs  were  exclusively  Christian,  or  that  a  distinction  was  made 
after  death  between  the  bodies  of  Christians  and  of  Pagans,  requires 
to  be  examined  before  it  is  assented  to  by  those  who  seek  the  truth 
only,  without  regard  to  any  preconceived  theory  or  traditions.  That 
some  of  the  Catacombs  were  Christian  is  probable,  because  they  be¬ 
longed  to  Christian  families ;  but  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  they  were 
rigidly  exclusive.  So  many  Pagan  inscriptions,  Pagan  glasses,  and 
Pagan  paintings  have  been  found  in  them,  that  the  idea  of  strict 
exclusiveness  can  hardly  be  maintained.  That  of  S.  Calixtus 
was  the  burial-vault  of  the  Bishops  of  Rome  in  the  third  cen¬ 
tury,  and  it  is  therefore  probable  that  this  Catacomb  was  exclu¬ 
sively  Christian. 

In  the  columbaria  remaining  in  the  tomb  of  the  servants  of 
Livia  Augusta,  or  “  the  Officers  of  Caesar’s  Household,”  a  mile  from 
the  Porta  di  S.  Sebastiano,  on  the  Via  Appia,  five  inscriptions  of 
the  same  names  as  persons  mentioned  by  S.  Paul  in  his  Epistles 
have  been  found,  with  the  urns  containing  their  ashes,  so  that 
if  these  really  are  the  same  persons,  the  early  Christians  appear 
to  have  sometimes  had  their  bodies  burned  in  the  same  manner 
as  the  Pagans*.  It  may  have  been  as  much  a  matter  of  fashion 

*  On  this  interesting  subject  see  Dr.  the  “Journal  of  Philology,  ’  1857.  He 
Lightfoot’s  “  Commentary  on  Philip-  does  not  say  more  than  that  there  is 
pians,”  pp.  169,  176,  and  his  article  in  some  probability  of  the  identity  of  these 


Introduction. 


13 


I-] 

as  of  religion;  the  custom  of  burying  the  body  instead  of  burn-1'" 
ing  it  was  gradually  coming  in  during  the  first  and  second  cen¬ 
turies,  and  was  pretty  well  established  by  the  third.  No  doubt 
the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  Resurrection  of  the  Body  had  con¬ 
siderable  influence  in  producing  this  change,  but  it  did  not  take 
place  all  at  once ;  it  was  gradual.  Many  tombs  of  the  first  two  or 
three  centuries  have  both  columbaria  or  places  for  cinerary  urns,  and 
other  places  for  sarcophagi,  sometimes  arco-solia ;  in  other  instances, 
only  platforms  for  the  sarcophagi.  Of  the  inscriptions  found  in  the 
seventeenth  century  in  the  Catacombs,  which  are  published  by  Bol- 
detti  and  others,  a  large  proportion  are  Pagan,  and  the  ingenious 
attempt  to  explain  away  this  fact  —  the  assumption  that  they  were 
all  brought  there  to  be  engraved  on  the  other  side  with  the  names 
of  Christians — is  extremely  improbable  as  a  general  rule ;  although 
it  is  clear  that  they  were  so  engraved  in  some  instances ,  it  does  not 
follow  that  these  Christian  inscriptions,  called  palimpsests ,  were 
actually  engraved  in  the  Catacombs  themselves,  and  the  probability 
is  quite  the  other  way. 


persons.  Others  would  go  further,  and 
say  that  for  the  more  rare  names  which 
he  cites  there  is  great  reason  to  believe 


they  are  the  same  persons.  Some  ex¬ 
tracts,  with  the  inscriptions,  are  given 
in  our  Chapter  on  Tombs. 


II.  CHRONOLOGY. 


According  to  the  legends  of  the  Roman  Church,  S.  Peter  was 
buried  in  the  Temple  of  Apollo y  on  the  Via  Aurelia,  near  where  he 
was  crucified,  and  near  the  Palace  of  Nero  on  the  Vatican  z.  As 
many  as  eleven  of  the  early  bishops  of  Rome  are  stated  to  have 
been  buried  near  to  him. 

All  these  rest  on  the  same  authority,  that  of  Damasus  in  the 
fourth  century  ;  there  are  no  earlier  records  extant.  It  appears  ex¬ 
traordinary  that  the  early  Christians  should  have  been  allowed  to 
have  a  burial-place  for  their  bishops  under  the  Temple  of  Apollo. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  appears  some  reason  to  believe  that  the 
catacomb  of  S.  Generosa  was  allowed  to  be  made  in  the  sacred 
grove  of  the  College  of  the  Arvales  at  a  later  period ;  but  Signor 
de  Rossi  considers  that  this  catacomb  was  made  about  fifty  years 
after  the  college  was  suppressed 

The  following  are  a  few  of  the  illustrious  dead  who  are  recorded 
to  have  been  buried  in  the  Roman  Catacombs,  or  in  the  burial-vaults 
under  S.  Peter’s  : — 


S.  Linus,  first  or  second  Bishop  of 
Rome,  A.  D.  67,  under  Vespasian. 

S.  Anacletus,  fifth  Bishop,  A.D.  103, 
under  Trajan. 

Leo  I.  the  Great,  A.D. 461. 

Gregory  the  Great,  who  first  undertook 
the  conversion  of  the  Anglo-Saxons, 
A.D.  604. 

Gregory  II.,  A.D.  731. 

Gregory  III.,  A.D.  741. 

Leo  IX.  He  died  a.d.  1050,  and 


.  was  the  last  Pope  buried  in  the 
Catacombs. 

The  Emperor  Valentinian,  A.D.  366. 
The  Emperor  Honorius,  a.d.  423. 

The  Princess  Mary,  daughter  of  Stilicho, 
and  wife  of  the  Emperor  Honorius. 
The  Emperor  Otho  II.,  A.D.  983. 
Ceadwalla,a  king  of  the  Western  Saxons. 
Cenred,  a  king  of  the  Mercians. 

Offa,  a  king  of  the  Anglo-Saxons. 

Ina,  a  king  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  with 
Queen  Ethelburga,  his  wife. 


A  large  number  of  Christian  inscriptions  have  been  collected  by  the 
Commendatore  de  Rossi,  as  superintendent  of  the  Catacombs,  and  ar¬ 
ranged  in  museums  in  the  order  which  he  thought  best ;  he  has  also 
published  a  part  of  them  in  his  great  work  on  Christian  Inscriptions, 
of  which  the  first  volume  only  has  appeared.  Of  these  dated  inscrip¬ 
tions  only  one  is  of  the  first  century,  and  two  are  of  the  second, 

j  “S.  Petrus  .  .  .  qui  sepultus  est  Via  triumphale. ”  (Anastasius  1.) 

Aurelia  in  templo  Apollinis,  juxta  locum  2  See  Via  Cornelia,  the  Vatican, 

ubi  crucifixus  est,  juxta  palatium  Nero-  a  See  Via  Portuensis,  S.  Generosa. 

nianum  in  Vaticano,  juxta  territorium 


SECT.  II.] 


Chronology. 


15 


both  from  loculi  in  the  crypt  of  Lucina,  now  part  of  the  catacomb  of 
S.  Calixtus.  Of  the  third  century  three  more  are  from  the  same 
crypt,  and  three  others  from  other  parts  of  the  catacomb  of  S.  Ca¬ 
lixtus,  two  from  that  of  S.  Hermes ;  the  rest  are  all  single,  and  from 
different  catacombs. 

It  by  no  means  follows  that  the  paintings  are  of  the  same  age  as 
the  inscriptions  on  the  tombstones ;  on  the  contrary,  the  greater 
part  of  the  frescoes  appear  to  have  been  executed  at  a  much 
later  period.  There  are  some  of  the  second  or  third  centuries, 
but  they  are  not  Christian  nor  Scriptural ;  they  are  either  merely 
ornamental,  or  they  are  probably  Pagan,  such  as  the  Four  Seasons, 
with  their  winged  Genii,  Oceanus,  Oqdieus,  Mercury,  Pegasus. 
If  we  may  judge  by  comparison  with  the  drawings  of  the  mosaic 
pictures  in  S.  Constantia,  a.d.  320,  and  S.  Maria  Maggiore,  a.d.  450, 
very  little  of  the  art  is  earlier  than  the  fifth  century,  and  the  Christian 
and  Scriptural  subjects  do  not  generally  begin  before  the  time  of 
Constantine  ;  unless  possibly  some  of  the  very  numerous  “  Good 
Shepherds”  may  be  before  that  time.  The  greater  part  are  much 
later. 

The  brickwork  at  the  entrance  of  some  of  the  early  Catacombs, 
as  at  those  of  Prastextatus,  SS.  Nereus  and  Achilleus,  and  S.  Domi- 
tilla,  is  of  the  first  century,  some  of  it  of  the  time  of  Nero,  before 
there  wrere  many  Christians  to  be  buried.  They  were  family  bury- 
ing-places;  and  if  the  families  happened  to  be  Christians,  the  per¬ 
sons  interred  would  be  so.  But  in  case  of  inter-marriages,  the  claim 
of  family  would  not  be  lost  by  a  difference  of  religion  :  the  Roman 
laws  would  not  have  permitted  this,  nor  is  there  any  reason  to  be¬ 
lieve  that  there  was  any  wish  for  such  exclusion  at  that  period. 

The  dates  of  the  catacombs  which  follow  are  the  periods  at 
which  they  were  7iiade  or  restored b,  and  the  paintings  generally  be¬ 
long  to  the  latest  restorations.  They  are  chiefly  taken  from  the 
Pontifical  Registers,  sometimes  called  the  Liber  Pontificalis c,  from 
which  Anastasius,  the  Pontifical  librarian  in  the  ninth  century,  de- 

,  #  t 

rived  his  Annals.  They  had  previously  been  used  by  S.  Jerome. 


b  For  the  early  bishops,  see  Sect,  v., 
S.  Peter’s  at  the  Vatican.  That  cata¬ 
comb  is  now  destroyed.  See  also 
Sect,  vii.,  church  of  S.  Alexander  on 
the  Via  Nomentana.  In  the  third  cen¬ 
tury,  the  bishops  of  Rome  were  interred 
in  a  crypt  provided  for  that  purpose  on 
the  Via  Appia,  now  part  of  the  cata¬ 
comb  of  S.  Calixtus.  There  is  reason 
to  believe  that  this  was  one  of  the 


earliest  of  the  Catacombs. 

c  ‘  ‘  The  Liber  Pontificalis  was  .  .  . 
formed  out  of  documents  more  ancient 
than  itself,  like  the  Martyrologium 
Hieronymi,  and  there  had  been  at  least 
three  versions  or  editions  of  it  before 
the  days  of  Anastasius,”  &c.  (North- 
cote  and  Brownlow,  Roma  Sotterranea , 
pp.  20,  21.) 


1 6 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


a.d.  174.  S.  Anicetus,  bishop  and  martyr,  is  said  to  have  been 
buried  in  the  cemetery  of  Calixtus.  (Anastas.,  11.) 
a.d.  189.  Bishop  Soter  in  the  same.  (Id.,  13.)  5 
a.d.  217.  Bishop  Zephyrinus  was  buried  in  his  own  cemetery,  near 
the  cemetery  of  S.  Calixtus,  on  the  Via  Appia,  on  the  7  th  of  Sep¬ 
tember'1.  It  is  evident  that  cemetery  here  means  his  own  family 
burial-vault,  near  to  the  large  cemetery  of  the  family  of  Calixtus, 
to  which  the  bishop  of  that  name,  who  was  his  immediate  successor, 
belonged,  and  that  Calixtus  made  another  burial-vault  in  this  ceme¬ 
tery  for  the  Bishops  of  Rome.  (Id.,  16). 

a.d.  222.  The  cemetery  or  catacomb  of  Calepodius  is  on  the  Via 
Aurelia,  three  miles  from  Rome e,  where  S.  Calixtus  was  interred  ; 
but  this  is  mentioned  as  a  burying-place  in  use,  not  as  being  then 
made.  It  is  believed  to  be  the  one  near  the  church  of  S.  Pancratius 
on  the  Janiculum.  S.  Calixtus  also  made  another  cemetery  on  the 
Appian  Road,  the  same  that  is  still  called  by  his  name. 

a.d.  230.  Urban  was  a  martyr,  and  was  buried  in  the  cemetery 
of  Prsetextatus,  according  to  the  legends  of  the  Church f,  with  the 
other  martyrs  of  the  same  period,  SS.  Csecilia,  Tiburtius,  Valerianus, 
and  Maximus.  They  were  all  beheaded,  and  at  night  their  bodies 
were  collected  by  Lucina,  with  the  clergy  and  her  family,  and  buried 
on  her  property,  where  now  is  the  catacomb  of  S.  Calixtus  g.  (Id.,  17.) 

a.d.  235.  Calpurnius  Pontianus  was  buried  in  the  cemetery  of 
Calixtus  by  Fabianus,  who  had  brought  the  bodies  from  Sardinia. 
(Id.,  20.)  ' 

a.d.  236.  Bishop  Anteros,  or  Antherus,  was  buried  in  the  ceme¬ 
tery  of  S.  Calixtus h.  (Id.,  19.) 

a.d.  249.  Fabianus1  .  .  .  caused  many  buildings  to  be  erected  for 


d  ‘  ‘  Qui  etiam  sepultus  est  in  coeme- 
terio  suo,  juxta  coemeterium  Calixti, 
Via  Appia,  vii.  Kalend.  Septembris.  ” 
(Anastas.,  16.) 

*  “  Qui  etiam  sepultus  est  in  cceme- 
terio  Calepodii,  Via  Aurelia,  miliario 
tertio,  pridie  idus  Octobris ;  et  fecit  aliud 
coemeterium  Via  Appia,  ubi  multi  sacer- 
dotes  et  martyres  requiescunt,  quod  ap- 
pellatur  usque  in  hodiernum  diem  coeme¬ 
terium  Calixti,”  &c.  (Anastas.,  17.) 

f  “  Qui  etiam  sepultus  est  in  cceme- 
terio  Prsetextati,  Via  Appia.”  (Id.,  18.) 

g  Ciaconius,  Vitce,  et  res  gestce  Pon- 
tificum  Romanorum,  &c.,  vol.  i.  col. 
146,  A.  Anastas.,  18,  mentions  only 
Valerianus,  who  was  betrothed  to 
S.  Caecilia,  and  many  others. 

h  Anast.,  19,  20.  Cf.  Ciacon.,  col. 


152,  A.  According  to  the  legendary 
history,  Anteros  was  interred  in  this 
catacomb,  with  many  other  martyrs, 
by  the  hands  of  S.  Fabianus,  then  a 
priest,  who  became  his  successor ;  his 
body  was  afterwards  removed  to  the 
church  of  S.  Sixtus  (S.  Sisto  Vecchio), 
on  the  Via  Appia,  in  A.  D.  595  (?),  with 
those  of  several  other  saints  and  martyrs. 

■  Anast.,  21.  Fabianus’s  body  was 
translated  to  the  church  of  S.  Silvester 
and  S.  Martin  by  Sergius  II. 

The  inscriptions  on  the  tombstones 
of  Eutychianus,  Anteros,  Fabianus,  and 
Cornelius,  were  found  by  Signor  de 
Rossi,  in  the  cubiculum  of  the  Bishops 
of  Rome,  in  the  cemetery  of  Calixtus, 
and  photographs  of  these  inscriptions 
are  to  be  had. 


II.] 


Chronology. 


17 


cemeteries  \  These  were  probably  burial-chapels  at  the  entrances 
of  the  Catacombs,  of  which  there  are  many  remains ;  some  of  them 
have  portions  that  may  be  of  this  period. 

a.d.  252.  Cornelius  was  buried  in  a  crypt  near  to  the  cemetery  of 
S.  Calixtus. 

According  to  the  legends,  in  his  time,  the  Lady  Lucina  (or  an  en¬ 
lightened  lady?)  raised  the  bodies  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul  at  night,  and 
placed  that  of  S.  Paul  in  her  property  on  the  Via  Ostense ;  but  Corne¬ 
lius  put  that  of  S.  Peter  near  the  place  where  he  was  crucified,  between 
the  bodies  of  the  bishops  in  the  Temple  of  Apollo,  on  the  Monte 
Aureo,  in  the  Vatican  Palace  of  Nero,  on  the  6th  of  July.  (Anastasius, 
xxii.  22 !.)  S.  Paul  suffered  martyrdom  by  beheading;  his  body  was 
collected  at  night  by  the  same  Lady  Lucina,  and  buried  in  a  crypt 
on  her  property,  near  the  cemetery  of  Calixtus  on  the  Via  Appia  m. 

a.d.  253.  Lucius  was  buried  in  the  cemetery  of  Calixtus.  (Anastas., 
xxiii.  23.) 

a.d.  257.  Stephanus,  and  twenty  other  martyrs  of  both  sexes,  and 
Cerealis,  a  soldier,  with  his  wife  Sallustia,  are  said  by  Ciaconius  to 
have  been  buried  with  himn  in  this  catacomb.  (Anastas.,  xxiv.  24. 
See  sect.  6.) 

a.d.  259.  Sixtus  II.  was  beheaded,  and  six  deacons  with  him;  he 
was  buried  in  the  cemetery  of  S.  Calixtus, — the  deacons  in  that  of 
Prsetextatus, — and  S.  Laurence  who  was  his  archdeacon,  and  received 
the  crown  of  martyrdom  three  days  afterwards,  was  buried  in  a  crypt 
in  the  cemetery  of  Cyriaca  (in  agro  Verano),  in  the  field  of  Veranus. 
(Anastas.,  xxv.  25.  See  sect.  6.) 

a.d.  269.  S.  Dionysius  or  Dennis0,  established  cemeteries,  and  was 
buried  in  that  of  Calixtus. 

a.d.  275.  Felix  made  a  basilica  on  the  Via  Aurelia,  where  he  was 
buried.  (Anastas.,  xxvii.  27.) 

a.d.  283.  Eutychianus  buried  three  hundred  and  forty-two  martyrs 


k  “  S.  Fabianus  .  .  .  multas  fabricas 
per  coemeteria  fieri  prsecepit.”  (Anas¬ 
tas.,  xxi.  21.) 

1  This  passage  in  Anastasius  has  led 
to  much  dispute  as  to  the  exact  locality 
of  the  martyrdom  of  the  two  great 
Apostles,  whether  it  took  place  on  the 
Vatican  Hill,  or  on  the  hill  called  Mons 
Aureus  (corrupted  into  Montorio),  which 
is  a  mile  to  the  south  of  the  Vatican. 
This  hill  is  called  the  Golden  Mount, 
from  the  golden  colour  of  the  sand  on 
the  surface,  which  is  distinctly  visible 
from  many  parts  of  Rome.  The  church 
of  S.  Peter  in  Montorio  is  built  on  the 


one  site,  and  S.  Peter  in  Vaticano  on 
the  other. 

m  Whether  he  was  beheaded  on  that 
site  where  the  great  church  stands  that 
was  built  to  commemorate  it,  or  at  the 
Tre  Fontane,  a  mile  further  on,  is  still 
an  open  question.  The  whole  of  this 
story  reads  very  much  like  an  inter¬ 
polation. 

n  Ciaconius,  Vitae  et  Res  gestae  Pon- 
tif.  Rom.,  vol.  i.  col.  169,  D.  The  ad¬ 
dition  of  those  two  names  is  not  in 
Anastasius. 

0  “  S.  Dionysius  .  .  .  coemeteria  in- 
stituit.”  (Anastas.,  26.) 


i8 


Catacombs. 


[sect. 


with  his  own  hands  in  various  places ;  he  was  afterwards  a  martyr 
himself,  and  was  buried  in  the  cemetery  of  Calixtus.  (Anastas., 
xxviii.  28.) 

a.d.  290.  Caius,  in  fleeing  from  the  persecutions  of  Diocletian, 
dwelt  in  the  crypt’s;  he  was  a  martyr,  and  was  buried  in  the  ceme¬ 
tery  of  Calixtus.  (Anastas.,  xxiv.  29.) 

a.d.  296.  “  Marcellinus  was  bishop  during  the  great  persecution 
under  Diocletian,  in  which  within  thirty  days  seventeen  thousand 
Christians  of  both  sexes  were  crowned  with  martyrdom,  in  the  dif¬ 
ferent  provinces  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Marcellinus  was  called 
upon  to  sacrifice  to  the  heathen  gods,  which  he  did ;  but  a  few  days 
afterwards,  having  repented  of  what  he  had  done,  he  was  beheaded 
by  order  of  Diocletian,  together  with  Claudius,  Cyrinus,  and  Anto¬ 
ninus,  who  all  suffered  martyrdom  for  their  faith  in  Christ.  Marcel¬ 
linus  exhorted  Marcellus  not  to  yield  to  the  orders  of  Diocletian. 
After  their  martyrdom,  their  bodies  were  exposed  as  a  warning  to 
the  Christians  for  thirty-six  days,  by  his  order.  Afterwards  Marcellus 
collected  their  bodies  at  night,  with  a  company  of  priests  and  dea¬ 
cons  singing  hymns,  and  buried  them  in  the  cemetery  of  Priscilla, 
in  an  open  chapel  or  vault  ( cubiculum )  which  he  had  prepared  when 
penitent,  and  which  remains  to  this  dayp  (that  is,  to  the  time  of 
Damasus) ;  the  body  of  Marcellinus  was  placed  in  a  crypt  near  that 
of  S.  Crescentius,  on  the  seventh  of  May.”  (Anastas.,  xxx.  30.  See  also 
sect.  8.)  This  open  chapel  appears  to  have  been  one  of  the  chapels 
at  the  entrance  to  the  Catacombs,  either  above  ground,  or  with 
a  luminare  or  opening  for  light  and  air  in  the  middle  of  the  vault, 
of  which  several  examples  remain. 

a.d.  300.  The  catacomb  of  S.  Castolus,  the  chamberlain  of  Dio¬ 
cletian.  This  had  been  forgotten,  but  was  found  again  in  1864, 
and  an  account  of  it  is  given  by  Signor  de  Rossi  in  his  Bullettino  di 
Archeologia  Cristiana  for  February,  1865.  It  is  situated  on  the 
Via  Labicana,  about  a  mile  from  Rome,  near  the  railroad  and  the 
Claudian  aqueduct q.  There  was  at  the  entrance  of  it  a  church 


p  “Marcellus  collegit  noctu  corpora 
[Martyrum  ?] .  .  .  et  sepelivit,  Via  Sa- 
laria,  in  coemeterio  Priscillse,  in  cubiculo 
claro,  quod  patet  usque  in  hodiernum 
diem.”  Cubiculo  claro  may  mean  only 
lighted  “per  luminare  cryptae,”  as  that 
through  which  S.  Candida  was  thrown 
and  pelted  with  stones.  See  the  acts 
of  SS.  Marcellinus  and  Petrus,  ap.  Bol- 
land,  June  2,  n.  10,  p.  173. 

This  catacomb  is  situated  under  the 
vineyard  belonging  to  the  Irish  monks 


of  S.  Clement.  Some  early  tombstones 
were  found  in  it  in  1863,  and  were  en¬ 
graved  by  Signor  de  Rossi  in  his  Bul¬ 
lettino  for  February,  1864. 

q  It  is  thus  mentioned  in  the  valuable 
topographical  tract  De  locis  sanctis  Mar¬ 
tyrum,  quce  sunt  foris  Civitatem  Romce : 
— “  Juxta  Viarn  vero  Praenestinam,  juxta 
aquseductum,  ecclesia  est  sancti  Strato- 
nici,  episcopi  et  martyris,  et  sancti  Cas- 
toli,  quorum  corpora  longe  sub  terra 
sunt  sepulta.” 


Chronology. 


19 


n.] 


or  burial-chapel,  dedicated  to  S.  Stratonicus,  bishop  and  martyr,  and 
S.  Castolus. 

a.d.  309.  “  Marcellus  asked  permission  of  a  certain  matron  named 
Priscilla,  and  made  cemeteries  [in  her  property]  on  the  Via  Salaria. 
After  his  martyrdom,  his  body  was  obtained  by  the  blessed  Lucina, 
and  buried  in  the  cemetery  of  Priscilla.”  (Anastas.,  xxxi.  31.)  From 
this  it  appears  that  the  Bishop  Marcellus  prepared  certain  burial- 
vaults  in  the  cemetery  of  the  family  of  Priscilla,  for  the  bodies  of 
the  Christian  martyrs  in  the  great  persecution  then  going  on,  and 
was  soon  afterwards  himself  interred  in  one  of  them. 

a.d.  309.  Eusebius  was  buried  in  S.  Peter’s,  according  to  some 
authorities,  and  in  the  church  of  S.  Sebastian,  according  to  others; 
but  in  a  crypt  in  the  cemetery  of  S.  Calixtus,  according  to  Anas- 
tasius  (xxxii.  32). 

a.d.  314.  Melchiades  was  buried  in  a  crypt  in  the  cemetery  of 
Calixtus,  on  the  Via  Appia.  (Anastas.,  xxxiii.  33.) 

a.d.  330.  Silvester  was  buried  in  the  catacomb  of  S.  Priscilla  on 
the  Via  Salaria,  at  the  third  mile  from  the  city.  (Anastas.,  xxxiv.  48.) 
In  his  time,  we  are  told  by  Anastasius  that  Constantine  made  a 
church  to  S.  Laurentius  in  the  field  of  Veranus,  over  the  sand¬ 
pit  crypt r. 

a.d.  337.  Marcus  made  two  churches,  one  on  the  Via  Ardeatina, 
where  his  body  rests,  the  other  in  the  city  of  Rome,  near  the  capitol. 
At  his  suggestion  Constantine  gave  to  the  church,  which  he  had 
made  in  a  cemetery  on  the  Via  Ardeatina,  a  rose  farm  with  all  the 
fields  belonging  to  it,  besides  forty  pounds  in  money.  He  was 
buried  in  the  cemetery  of  S.  Balbina,  under  the  church  which  he  had 
built s.  (Anastas.,  xxxv.  49.) 

a.d.  337 — 348.  Julius  I.  .  .  .  made  two  churches,  one  in  the  City 
near  the  Forum,  the  other  on  the  Via  Flaminia ;  he  made  three 
cemeteries,  one  on  the  Via  Flaminia,  another  on  the  Via  Aurelia, 
and  another  also  on  the  Via  Portuensis.  (Sect.  5.)  He  was  buried 
himself  on  the  Via  Aurelia,  in  the  cemetery  of  Calepodius  *. 

a.d.  352.  Liberius  resided  for  some  time  in  the  catacomb  of 
S.  Agnes,  which  he  adorned  with  marble  plates.  He  was  recalled 


r  “  Eodem  tempore  Constantinus 
Augustus  fecit  basilicam  beato  Lau- 
rentio  martyri,  Via  Tiburtina  in  agrum 
Veranum  supra  Arenarium  cryptae,  et 
usque  ad  corpus  B.  Laurentii  Martyris, 
in  qua  fecit  gradurn  ascensionis  et  de- 
scensionis.”  (Anastas.,  xxxiv.  43.) 

s  “  S.  Marcus  .  .  .  sepultus  est  in  coe* 
meterio  Balbinae,  Via  Ardeatina.”  This 
cemetery  was  probably  afterwards  called 


by  the  name  of  S.  Marcus  himself,  and 
was  restored  under  that  name  in  705 
and  855.  (See  sect.  7.) 

*  “(S.  Julius)  fecit  autem  et  coemete- 
ria  tria,  unum  Via  Flaminia,  et  aliud 
Via  Aurelia,  atque  aliud  Via  Portuensi. 

.  .  .  Qui  etiam  sepultus  est  Via  Aurelia, 
in  ccemeterio  Calepodii,”  &c.  (Anastas., 
xxxvi.  60.) 


C  2 


20 


Catacombs. 


[sect. 


to  the  city  by  the  Emperor  Constantius,  at  the  instigation  of  the 
Princess  Constantia,  who  was  a  Christian.  He  was  buried  in  the 
catacomb  of  Priscilla.  (Anastas.,  xxxvii.  51.) 

a.d.  355.  Felix  II.  is  said  to  have  received  martyrdom  under  the 
Emperor  Constantius,  and  to  have  been  buried  in  the  catacomb  on 
the  Via  Aurelia  (Anastas.,  xxxviii.  53) ;  but  the  dates  do  not  agree, 
notwithstanding  that  there  is  an  inscription  to  that  effect  in  the 
church  of  SS.  Cosmas  and  Damian  near  the  Forum  Romanum,  to 
which  his  relics  were  translated  in  1582".  There  was  no  persecu¬ 
tion  of  the  Christians  under  Constantius  II.,  in  the  time  of  Felix  II., 
a.d.  355 — 366  ;  and  Felix  I.  died  a.d.  275,  before  the  time  of  Con¬ 
stantius  I.,  a.d.  305. 

a.d.  366.  Bishop  Damasus  made  two  basilicas,  one  near  the 
theatre  of  Pompey,  dedicated  to  S.  Laurentius,  the  other  on  the 
Via  Ardeatina,  where  he  is  buried  in  the  Catacombs.  He  also 
built  the  platonia  (at  S.  Sebastian’s),  where  the  bodies  of  the 
Apostles  were  laid,  that  is,  of  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul,  which  he 
adorned  with  verses.  He  sought  out  the  bodies  of  many  martyrs, 
and  decorated  their  vaults  with  verses.  He  was  buried  near  his 
mother  and  sister,  in  a  catacomb  on  the  Via  Ardeatina,  called  after 
him  Damasi;  he  wrote  a  number  of  Latin  verse  inscriptions  relating 
to  the  saints  and  martyrs  buried  in  the  Catacombs,  and  had  them 
incised  in  a  very  elegant  manner  on  marble  plates x,  many  of  which 
are  extant.  (Anastas.,  xxxix.  54.) 

a.d.  397.  Siricius  was  buried  in  the  catacomb  of  Priscilla.  (Anas¬ 
tas.,  xl.  55.) 

In  the  fifth  century,  the  Popes  were  buried  in  different  places, 
in  the  churches  they  had  built,  or  in  the  catacomb  of  the  Vatican 
under  S.  Peter’s.  This  latter  custom  became  general  in  the  sixth 
century,  for  those  Popes  who  died  at  Rome,  or  whose  bodies  were 
brought  there. 

a.d.  401.  Anastasius  I.  was  buried  in  his  own  cemetery,  ad  Ursum 
pileatum.  (Anastas.,  xli.  56.  See  Sect.  5.) 

a.d.  417.  Innocentius  I.,  also  ad  Ursum  pileatum.  (Anastas.,  xlii.  58.) 

a.d.  418.  Zosimus,  near  the  body  of  S.  Laurence  on  the  Via 
Tiburtina.  (Anastas.,  xliii.  59.) 

a.d.  419.  S.  Boniface  made  an  oratory  in  the  catacomb  of  S.  Feli- 
citas,  and  ornamented  the  sepulchre  y  of  SS.  Felicitas  and  Livanius, 
on  the  Via  Salaria,  and  was  buried  there  near  the  body  of  the  saint. 

u  corpvs  s.  felicis  .  papae  .  et  .  r  “  Hie  (S.  Bonifacius)  fecit  orato- 
martyris  .  QVi  .  damnavit  .  CON-  rium  in  coemeterio  S.  Felicitatis,  juxta 
stantivm.  corpus  ejus,  et  ornavit  sepulcrum,”  &c. 

x  “  In  platoniam  scripsit  nomina.”  (Anastas.,  xliv.  61.) 


n.] 


Chronology. 


21 


(Anastas.,  xliv.  61.  See  sect.  8.)  This  was  adorned  with  a  mosaic 
picture,  of  which  a  drawing  is  preserved  in  the  Vatican  library. 

a.d.  432.  Ccelestinus  was  buried  in  the  cemetery  of  Priscilla, 
Via  Salaria.  (Anastas.,  xlv.  62.) 

a.d.  432 — 440.  Sixtus  III.,  hearing  that  the  Emperor  Valentinian 
and  his  mother  Placida  were  furious  against  Bassus,  and  had  con¬ 
demned  him  to  exile,  where  he  had  died,  embalmed  the  body  with 
aromatic  herbs,  and  wrapped  it  in  linen  with  his  own  hands,  and 
brought  it  to  S.  Peter’s,  where  he  interred  it  in  the  burial-vault  of 
his  family.  He  also  made  a  platonia  (that  is,  a  chapel  with  the  walls 
lined  with  marble  plates)  in  the  catacomb  of  Calixtus,  on  the  Via 
Appia,  where  he  wrote  the  names  of  the  bishops  and  martyrs,  to 
commemorate  them  z.  He  was  buried  near  the  body  of  S.  Laurentius 
in  the  crypt  on  the  Via  Tiburtina.  (Anastas.,  xlvi.  65.  See  sect.  6.) 

a.d.  440 — 461.  S.  Leo  made  the  church  (?)  or  chapel  (?)  ( basilican ) 
of  S.  Cornelius,  near  the  cemetery  of  Calixtus a,  (see  sect.  7,)  and 
was  buried  at  S.  Peter’s. 

a.d.  461 — 467.  Hilarius  was  interred  in  a  crypt  near  the  body  of 
the  blessed  Bishop  Sixtus  at  S.  Lorenzo  (that  is,  in  the  cemetery  of 
S.  Cyriacab). 

a.d.  482.  Simplicius  was  buried  in  the  church  of  S.  Peter0.' 
a.d.  498.  Felix  III.  was  buried  in  the  church  of  S.  Pauld. 
a.d.  498.  S.  Symmachus  restored  (or  put  into  better  order)  the 
cemetery  of  the  Jordani  near  the  body  of  S.  Alexander e,  on  the 
Via  Salaria.  (Sect.  8.) 

a.d.  523.  John  I.  made  the  cemetery  of  the  blessed  martyrs 
Nereus  and  Achilleus  on  the  Via  Ardeatina  .  .  .  and  renewed  the 
cemetery  of  S.  Felix  and  Adauctus,  or  Commodilla  or  Domitilla  (?), 
on  the  Via  Ostiensis,  and  of  Priscilla,  on  the  Via  Salaria f.  (Sect.  9.) 

a.d.  536 — 538.  Silverius.  In  his  time,  during  the  siege  of  Rome, 
(which  was  defended  by  Belisarius,  called  also  by  Anastasius,  Vili- 


7  “  Hie  (Sixtus  III. )  fecit  platoniam 
in  ccemeterio  Calixti,  Via  Appia,  ubi 
nomina  Episcoporum  et  Martyrum  scrip- 
sit  commemorans. ”  (Anastas., xlvi.  65.) 

a  “  (S.  Leo)  fecit  autem  et  basilicam 
B.  Cornelio  episcopo  et  martyri  juxta 
coem.  Calixti,  Via  Appia.”  (Anastas., 
xlvii.  67.) 

b  “  Qui  etiam  sepultus  est  ad  sanctum 
Laurentium  in  crypta  juxta  corpus  beati 
episcopi  Sixti.”  (Anastas.,  xlviii.  71.) 

c  “Hie  sepultus  est  in  basilica  beati 
Petri  apostoli.”  (Anastas.,  xlix.  72.) 

d  “Hie  sepultus  est  in  basilica  beati 
Pauli  apostoli.”  (Anastas.,  1.  73.) 


e  “Hie  (S.  Symmachus)  fecit  coeme- 
terium  Jordanorum  in  melius  prope 
corpus  S.  Alexandri.”  (Anastas.,  liii. 
31. )  This  was  renewed  in  772. 

f  “Hie  papa  Joannes  fecit  coeme- 
terium  B.  M.  Nerei  et  Achillei  Via  Ar¬ 
deatina.  Item  renovavit  coemeterium 
Felicis  et  Adaucti  .  .  .  et  Priscillre,  Via 
Salaria.”  (Anastas.,  lv.  89.) 

Each  cubiculum  was  a  separate  burial- 
place  for  a  martyr,  and  as  many  cubicula 
are  connected  together  by  corridors,  the 
general  name  given  to  the  whole  varies 
extremely  ;  it  is  sometimes  called  after 
one  martyr,  sometimes  another. 


22 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


sarius  the  patrician,)  the  Goths,  in  their  fury,  are  described  as  having 
exterminated  the  churches,  and  the  bodies  of  the  holy  martyrs  s. 

a.d.  538.  Vigilius  repaired  the  Catacombs  after  they  had  been 
damaged  by  the  Goths  in  their  second  siege  of  Rome,  and  restored 
some  of  the  inscriptions  of  Damasus  h. 

a.d.  560 — 573.  John  III.  is  said  by  Anastasius  and  in  the  Mar- 
tyrology  to  have  taken  refuge  in  the  catacomb  of  Tiburtius  and 
Valerianus,  now  called  of  Praetextatus,  for  several  months,  during 
the  siege  of  Rome  by  the  Goths ;  and  to  have  celebrated  Divine 
service  there  on  Sundays.  He  loved  and  restored  the  cemeteries 
(or  catacombs)  of  the  holy  martyrs,  and  ordered  that  oblations, 
i.e.  the  bread  and  wine  for  the  Eucharist,  cruets  and  candles  (for 
the  holy  Sacrifice),  should  be  supplied  from  the  Lateran  Palace 
throughout  them  every  Sunday;  also  that  they  should  be  lighted 
up  during  Lent.  (Anastas.,  lxiii.  110.) 

a.d.  577.  Pelagius  II.  made  the  cemetery  of  the  blessed  Hermes 
on  the  Via  Salaria  Vetus.  (Anastas.,  lxv.  112.) 

a.d.  590.  Gregory  the  Great  made  Lent  stations  in  the  Catacombs. 
a.d.  619.  Boniface  V.  completed  and  dedicated  the  catacomb  of 
S.  Nicomedes  at  the  seventh  mile  on  the  Via  Ardeatina.  (Anastas., 
lxxi.  118.) 

a.d.  626.  Honorius  I.  renewed  the  cemetery  of  the  blessed  mar¬ 
tyrs  Marcellinus  and  Peter  on  the  Via  Lavicana  ‘.  (See  sect.  7.) 

a.d.  642 — 649.  Theodoras.  In  his  time  the  bodies  of  the  holy 
martyrs,  Primius  and  Felicianus,  were  taken  up  from  the  sand-pit  on 
the  Via  Nomentana,  in  which  they  had  been  buried,  and  taken  out 
to  the  city  of  Rome,  and  there  re-interred  in  the  church  of  S.  Stephen 
the  Proto-martyr  \ 


b  “  Nam  ecclesise  et  corpora  sancto¬ 
rum  martyrum  exterminate  sunt  a  Go- 
this.”  (Anastas.,  lx.  99.) 

h  ‘  ‘  Dum  peritura  Gete  posuissent  cas- 
tra  sub  urbem, 

Moverant  Sanctis  bella  nefanda  prius, 

Totaque  sacrilego  verterunt  corde  se- 
pulchra, 

Martyribus  quondam  rite  sacrata  piis. 

Quos,  monstrante  Deo,  Damasus  sibi 
Papa  probatos, 

Affixo  monuit  carmine  jure  coli ; 

Sed  periit  tit  ulus  co?ifracto  mar  more 
sanctus, 

Nec  tamen  his  iterum  posse  latere  fuit. 

Diruta  Vigilius  nam  posthaec  Papa 
gemiscens, 

Hostibus  expulsis  omne  novavit  opus.  ” 

This  inscription  is  now  in  the  gallery 
of  the  Museum  of  Christian  Antiquities 


in  the  Lateran  Palace. 

It  appears  from  this,  and  from  other 
inscriptions  and  passages  relating  to  the 
Catacombs,  that  the  damage  done  to 
them  by  the  Goths  was  speedily  re¬ 
paired,  and  they  continued  to  be  used 
as  places  of  interment  for  some  time 
afterwards.  As  places  of  pilgrimage, 
they  were  even  more  resorted  to ;  the 
fashion  went  on  increasing  for  two  or 
three  centuries,  and  has  always  conti¬ 
nued  after  intervals.  It  has  been  very 
much  revived  between  1830  and  the 
present  time,  and  the  paintings  in  S. 
Calixtus  have  again  been  restored  or 
renewed  for  the  modern  pilgrims. 

*  “(Honorius  I.)  renovavit  et  cceme- 
terium  B.  M.  Marcellini  et  Petri,  Via 
Lavicana.”  (Anastas.,  Ixxii.  120.) 

k  “Feliciani,  quae  erant  in  arenario 


II.] 


Chronology. 


23 


a.d.  687.  Sergius  I.,  “during  the  time  of  his  priesthood,  was  ac¬ 
customed  diligently  to  celebrate  mass  through  the  different  ceme¬ 
teries.”  (Anastas.,  Ixxxvi.  158.) 

a.d.  705.  John  VII.  worked  on  the  cemeteries  of  Marcellinus  and 
Marcus  (on  the  Via  Ardeatina),  and  on  that  of  the  holy  pontiff 
Damasus1.  (See  sect.  7.) 

a.d.  731 — 741.  Gregory  III.  restored  the  catacombs  of  S.  Urba- 
nus,  Maximus,  Petronilla,  on  the  Via  Appia  and  Ardeatina.  (Anas¬ 
tas.,  xcii.  202.)  He  also  established  a  body  of  priests  to  celebrate 
masses  every  week,  and  on  the  nativities  and  festivals,  and  other 
vigils  in  the  cemeteries.  (Anastas.,  xcii.  204.) 

a.d.  752.  Stephen  II.  restored  the  roof  of  the  cemetery  (chapel) 
of  S.  Soter,  on  the  Via  Appia,  which  had  fallen  in  m.  (See  sect.  7.) 

a.d.  757 — 768.  Paul  I.  “complained  loudly  of  the  damage  done 
by  the  ‘impious  Lombards,’  and  removed  many  of  the  relics  of  the 
martyrs  into  Rome  for  security.  He  deposited  them  in  the  church 
which  he  had  built  in  honour  of  S.  Stephen  and  S.  Sylvester  (S.  Sil¬ 
vester  in  Capite  Via  Lata),  on  the  site  of  his  father’s  house,  which 
had  descended  to  him  by  inheritance.”  (Anastas.,  xcv.  260.) 

a.d.  772 — 795.  Hadrian  I.  renewed  the  cemetery  of  SS.  Peter  and 
Marcellinus,  on  the  Via  Lavicana,  near  the  church  of  S.  Helena,  as 
well  as  the  coverings  n  over  S.  Tiburtius,  S.  Peter,  and  S.  Marcelli¬ 
nus,  and  made  new  steps  to  descend  to  their  most  holy  bodies,  to 
which  no  one  could  descend  before.  (Anastas.,  xcvii.  325.) 

Hadrian  also  renewed  the  basilica  of  S.  Sophia,  with  the  ceme¬ 
tery  of  Tertullian  outside  the  Porta  Latina,  .  .  .  together  with  the 
cemeteries  of  S.  Urban  the  Pope  (see  a.d.  233),  of  Felix  and  of 
Agapetus,  and  of  Januarius  and  Cyrinus  the  martyrs,  outside  the 
Porta  Appia, . . .  and  restored  that  of  S.  Cyriaca ;  .  .  .  also  the  church 
of  the  Apostles  outside  of  the  Porta  Appia,  at  the  third  mile,'  in  the 
place  which  is  called  the  Catacombs,  where  the  body  of  the  blessed 
S.  Sebastian  rests  with  others,  which  was  in  ruins ;  he  restored  afresh 
. .  .  the  cemetery  chapels  of  S.  Hermes,  S.  Prothus,  and  S.  Hyacinth, 
on  the  Via  Salaria. 

a.d.  772 — 795.  The  cemetery  of  S.  Felicitas  on  the  Via  Salaria. 

- The  cemeteries  of  S.  Chrysantus,  S.  Daria,  and  S.  Hilary, 

on  the  Via  Salaria. 

- The  cemeteries  of  the  Jordanes,  that  is  of  the  saints  and 


sepulta,  Via  Numentana.”  (Anastas., 
lxxv.  128.) 

1  “Joannes  VII.  laboravit  in  ccem. 
Marcellini  et  Marci  et  S.  Pontificis 
Damasi.”  (Anastas.,  lxxxviii.  167.) 
m  “  (Stephanus  II.)  restauravit  et  te- 


gumen  ccem.  S.  Sotheris,  quod  ceci- 
derat.”  (Anastas.,  xciv.  236.) 

11  This  probably  means,  renewed  the 
paintings  on  the  vaults  over  the  bodies 
in  the  cubicula. 


24 


Catacombs. 


[SECT.  II. 


martyrs  Alexander,  Vitalis,  and  Martial,  &c.,  and  of  the  seven  holy 
Virgins  (see  a.d.  498),  on  the  Via  Salaria. 

a.d.  772 — 795.  The  cemetery  of  S.  Silvester,  on  the  Via  Salaria. 

- The  chapel  of  S.  Abdon  and  S.  Sennen,  on  the  Via  Por- 

tuensis,  .  .  .  and  of  the  blessed  martyr  Candida,  along  with  the  ceme¬ 
teries  of  other  saints,  he  renewed  in  like  manner. 

-  The  cemeteries  of  the  blessed  martyr  Hippolytus,  near 

S.  Laurence,  on  the  Via  Tiburtina.  (Anastas.,  xlvii.  350.) 

a.d.  795.  Leo  III.  restored  the  cemeteries  of  S.  Sixtus  and 
S.  Cornelius  on  the  Via  Appia,  and  of  S.  Zoticus  on  the  Via  Labi- 
cana.  (Anastas.,  xcviii.  361.) 

a.d.  817.  Paschal  I.  translated  the  relics  of  2,300  bodies  to  the 
church  of  S.  Prassede,  which  he  had  built0.  (Anastas.,  c.  435.) 

a.d.  844.  Sergius  II.  translated  a  large  number  of  relics  to  the 
churches  of  S.  Sylvester  and  S.  Martin,  in  the  Thermae  of  Titus. 
(Anastas.,  civ.  491.) 

a.d.  845.  Leo  IV.  translated  a  number  of  relics  to  the  church  of 
the  Santi  Quattro  Coronati.  (Anastas.,  cv.  517.) 

a.d.  857.  Benedict  III.  restored  the  cemetery  of  S.  Marcus  outside 
the  Appian  gate.  (Anastas.,  cvi.  572.) 

a.d.  858 — 867.  Nicholas  I.  is  said  to  have  restored  the  catacombs 
of  Priscilla,  Basilla,  and  Saturninus,  and  the  celebration  of  mass 
in  the  Catacombs ;  he  also  repaired  the  catacombs  of  Felix,  Ponti- 
anus,  and  Sebastian.  (Anastas.,  cvii.  601.) 

a.d.  1217 — 1229.  The  pilgrimages  to  the  tombs  of  the  martyrs  in 
the  Catacombs  were  renewed  under  Honorius  III.  The  same  active 
Pope  buried  the  body  of  Maria,  the  mother  of  the  King  of  Aragon, 
in  the  sepulchre  (catacomb?)  of  Petronilla,  which  is  said  in  the 
history  of  the  Councils  to  be  in  the  Vatican ;  but  this  may  be  an 
error  arising  from  the  writer  not  knowing  the  locality. 


0  A  large  crypt  was  built  to  receive 
these  bodies  under  the  apse  of  the  church 
which  this  Pope  was  then  building. 
The  entrance  to  this  crypt  was  through 
the  confessio  under  the  altar.  The  pas¬ 
sage  is  divided  into  two  parts,  right  and 
left,  and  there  is  an  altar  at  the  point  of 
junction.  This  altar  is  richly  decorated 
with  mosaic  patterns,  and  there  is  a  pic¬ 
ture  over  it  of  three  figures,  the  Ma¬ 
donna  between  S.  Prassede  and  her 
sister  S.  Pudentiana.  Each  division  leads 
to  a  doorway  into  the  great  crypt  be¬ 
hind,  now  closed.  These  corridors  are 
lined  with  tombstones  from  the  Cata¬ 
combs,  several  of  which  have  the  in¬ 


scriptions  visible,  and  one  of  these  is 
of  the  sixth  century  ;  others  have  them 
turned  inwards  and  not  visible.  There 
are  several  other  crypts  built  to  receive 
the  bodies  at  this  period  under  different 
churches,  as  at  the  Santi  Quattro  Coro¬ 
nati,  where  they  have  half  of  an  in¬ 
scription  belonging  to  them,  the  other 
half  of  which  is  in  another  church,  some 
of  the  relics  of  the  martyrs  having  been 
divided.  In  another  crypt,  under  the 
choir  of  S.  Maria  in  Cosmedin,  there  are 
a  number  of  niches  to  receive  the  reli¬ 
quary  chests,  much  resembling  the  co¬ 
lumbaria  for  cinerary  urns. 


III.  THE  MARTYRS. 


The  history  of  the  early  martyrs  in  Rome  has  long  been  a  mattei 
of  controversy,  and  will  probably  long  continue  to  be  so.  The  plan 
of  this  work  is  to  avoid  controversy  as  much  as  possible,  and  to 
confine  it  strictly  to  archaeology,  or  the  truth  of  history  in  detail. 
The  legends  of  the  Roman  branch  of  the  Catholic  Church  are  not 
received  as  being  necessarily  true  and  the  whole  truth,  but  like  other 
authorities  of  history  to  be  weighed,  and  the  date  of  the  documents 
or  of  the  writers  to  be  always  considered.  When  existing  remains 
are  examined  by  archaeological  rules,  and  are  found  to  agree  with 
the  legends  of  the  Church,  the  two  combining  may  be  considered  as 
amounting  to  history.  This  appears  to  be  the  case  with  regard  to 
the  church  of  S.  Pudentiana,  but  for  the  martyrdoms  of  S.  Peter  and 
S.  Paul  there  can  be  no  archaeological  evidence.  There  are  no  re¬ 
mains  of  buildings  of  the  first  century  known,  either  in  the  Vatican, 
at  S.  Peter’s  or  at  S.  Paul’s,  on  the  Via  Ostiensis,  or  at  the  Tre 
Fontane.  There  are  no  cotemporary  witnesses,  but  the  authors 
of  the  fourth  century  mention  them  as  received  facts  in  their  time. 
Lactantius  especially  mentions  them  as  an  ordinary  matter  of  his¬ 
tory  that  no  one  thinks  of  disputing r. 

That  during  the  time  of  persecution  the  bishops  performed  the 
divine  offices  in  the  Catacombs  is  not  only  recorded ;  but  many  of 
the  chapels  fitted  up  for  that  purpose  remain,  especially  one  in  the 
catacomb  of  S.  Priscilla,  where  the  altar  or  stone  coffin  of  a  martyr  re¬ 
mains,  with  a  small  platform  behind  it  for  the  priest  or  bishop  to  stand 
and  officiate  over  it,  according  to  the  practice  of  the  early  Church.  We 
are  told  that  Xystus  or  Sixtus  II.,  bishop  in  a.d.  259,  with  Quartus, 
one  of  his  clergy,  were  beheaded  in  a  catacomb ;  and  Stephen  I., 
a.d.  257,  having  been  found  in  the  act  of  performing  divine  service, 
was  allowed  to  complete  it,  and  then  beheaded  in  his  chair.  This  was 
long  considered  to  be  in  the  catacomb  of  Cyriaca,  on  the  Via  Tibur- 
tina,  which  adjoins  the  public  cemetery  of  S.  Lorenzo,  where  an  altar 


r  “Cumque  jam  Nero  imperaret,  Pe¬ 
trus  Romam  advenit ;  et  editis  qui- 
busdam  miraculis,  quae  virtute  ipsius 
Dei,  data  sibi  ab  eo  potestate,  faciebat, 
convertit  multos  ad  justitiam,  Deoque 
templum  fidele  ac  stabile  collocavit. 
Qua  re  ad  Neronem  delata,  cum  ani- 
madverteret  non  modo  Romas,  sed  ubi- 
que  quotidie  magnam  multitudinem 


deficere  a  cultu  idolorum  et  ad  religi- 
onem  novam,  damnata  vetustate,  trans¬ 
ire  :  ut  erat  execrabilis  ac  nocens  tyran- 
nus,  prosilivit  ad  excidendum  coeleste 
templum,  delendamque  justitiam,  et 
primus  omnium  persecutus  Dei  servos 
Petram  cruci  affixit,  et  Paulum  inter- 
fecit.”  (Firm.  Lactantii  Liber  de  Mor- 
tibus  Persecutorum,  c.  ii. ) 


2  6 


Catacombs. 


[sect. 


was  afterwards  erected  to  his  memory;  but  De  Rossi  (vol.  ii.  c.  14) 
considers  it  to  have  taken  place  in  the  catacomb  of  S.  Calixtus. 
In  the  life  of  Stephen  I.  there  are  several  legends  of  his  seclusion 
in  the  Catacombs. 

Although  during  the  time  of  persecution  the  Christians  were  much 
worried  and  annoyed  at  the  instigation  of  the  Pagan  priests,  and 
many  were  even  put  to  death,  still  there  were  long  intervals  of  com¬ 
parative  peace,  when  they  were  no  more  molested  than  other  citizens. 
The  good  emperors  did  not  always  yield  to  the  influence  of  the  Pagan 
priests,  and  although  these  were  always  hostile,  partly  from  real  belief 
in  their  own  religion,  and  still  more  from  the  fear  of  losing  their 
revenues  which  depended  mainly  on  the  offerings  made  to  the  idols, 
the  people  did  not  always  support  their  idolatrous  views.  Perfect 
toleration  of  all  religions  had  been  one  of  the  principal  causes  of  the 
rapid  rise  and  great  extent  of  the  Roman  power,  and  it  was  only  when 
the  Roman  people  became  intolerant  under  the  influence  of  their 
priests,  that  their  power  fell  almost  as  rapidly  as  it  had  risen. 

These  persecutions  were  however  not  generally  of  long  dura¬ 
tion.  At  other  times,  the  Christians  lived  as  other  citizens;  and  if 
they  could  conceal  themselves  until  the  storm  of  persecution  had 
blown  over,  they  were  safe,  at  least  until  the  next  persecution  took 
place.  The  bishops  being  naturally  the  first  persons  selected  for  per¬ 
secution,  it  was  a  great  object  to  secrete  them  for  a  short  time,  and 
for  this  purpose  the  Catacombs  were  admirably  adapted  :  their  intri¬ 
cate  winding  passages  were  known  only  to  the  fossores,  who  were 
generally  Christians ;  and  as  there  were  frequently  several  entrances, 
the  bishop  might  escape  by  one  while  the  enemy  were  seeking  him 
by  another.  But  the  Catacombs  were  never  intended,  nor  fit  for 
dwelling-places,  and  the  stories  of  persons  living  in  them  for  months 
are  probably  fabulous.  According  to  modern  physicians,  it  is  im¬ 
possible  to  live  many  days  in  the  caves  of  pozzolana  in  which  many 
of  the  catacombs  are  excavated. 

We  read  in  the  life  of  Alexander  Severus,  by  Lampridius8,  that 
“  he  put  up  in  his  private  chapel  statues  to  Christ  and  Abraham,  as 
well  as  to  Orpheus  and  Apollonius  of  Thyana.”  This  does  not  agree 
with  the  story  of  his  persecution  of  the  Christians  and  Jews.  He 
could  not  have  selected  Christ  and  Abraham  as  among  the  chief 
heroes,  and  at  the  same  time  have  persecuted  their  followers. 

8  “.  .  .  Matutinis  horis  in  larario  suo,  ham,  et  Orpheum,  et  hujusce  modi  deos 
in  quo  et  Divos  principes,  sed  optimos  habebat  ac  majorum  effigies,  rem  divi- 
electos  et  animas  sanctiores,  in  queis  nam  faciebat.”  (Lampridius  in  Alex* 
et  Apollonium,  et  quantum  scriptor  andro  Severo,  c.  28.) 
suorum  temporum  dicit,  Christum,  Abra- 


III.] 


The  Martyrs. 


27 


“The  same  emperor  proposed  to  have  Christ  received  among  the  gods  of  the 
Roman  people,  and  to  build  a  temple  to  Him  as  Hadrian  had  previously  proposed, 
who  had  also  ordered  temples  without  images  to  be  built  in  all  the  cities ,  which,  be¬ 
cause  they  had  no  other  name,  are  now  [a.  d.  222 — 235]  called  after  Hadrian,  who 
had  ordered  them  to  be  built ;  but  he  was  forbidden  to  do  this  by  the  priests, 
because  if  he  did  so  all  would  become  Christians,  and  the  temples  would  be 
deserted 

From  this  it  is  evident  that  Hadrian  had  caused  many  temples 
without  idols  to  be  erected,  which  he  intended  for  Christian  worship, 
*md  this  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  century ;  moreover  that  these 
temples  were  still  in  existence  in  the  third  century,  in  the  time  of 
Alexander  Severus,  who  wished  to  go  a  step  further,  and  openly  build 
temples  dedicated  to  Christ. 

In  another  passage  in  the  life  of  the  same  emperor,  we  are  told 
that  the  great  Christian  maxim,  “  Do  unto  others  as  you  would  they 
should  do  unto  you,”  delighted  this  good  emperor  extremely,  and  he 
ordered  it  to  be  inscribed  on  his  palace,  and  on  his  public  works  u. 
This,  again,  is  not  consistent  with  his  persecuting  those  who  hold 
this  maxim  as  one  of  the  great  truths  of  their  religion. 

On  the  other  hand,  among  the  Epistles  of  S.  Cyprian,  written 
between  a.d.  248  and  258,  during  the  seventh  persecution,  are  seve¬ 
ral  letters  addressed  by  him  to  the  martyrs  when  in  prison,  and 
condemned  to  hard  labour  on  the  roads.  One  is  addressed1  to 
“Nemesianus,  Felix,  Lucius,  another  Felix,  Polianus,  Victor,  Jader, 
Pelian,  co-episcopus ,  and  the  other  priests  and  deacons  and  brothers, 
condemned  to  hard  labour  in  the  mines  and  quarries.  He  entreats 
them  to  have  courage  and  perseverance  and  charity.”  Other  letters 
are  the  replies  of  the  prisoners,  who  were  afterwards  martyrs,  to 
Cyprian,  then  in  exile.  The  Lucius  here  mentioned  was  not  the 
Pope,  but  an  African  bishop  of  the  same  name.  One  of  these  is  the 
reply  of  “  Felix,  Jader,  Pelian,  with  the  priests  and  all  others,  dwell- 


*  “Christo  templum  facere  voluit, 
eumque  inter  deos  recipere  ;  quod  et 
Hadrianus  cogitasse  fertur,  qui  templa 
in  omnibus  civitatibus  sine  simuiacris 
jusserat  fieri.  Quae  hodie  idcirco,  quia 
non  habent  nomina,  dicuntur  Hadriani, 
quae  ille  ad  hoc  parasse  dicebatur  ;  sed 
prohibitus  est  ab  his  qui  consulentes 
sacra,  repererant  omnes  Christianos  fu- 
turos,  si  id  primum  fecisset,  et  templa 
reliqua  deserenda.  ”  (Lampridius  in 
Alexandra  Severo,  c.  42. ) 

u  “  Si  quis  de  via  in  alicujus  posses¬ 
sionem  deflexisset,  pro  qualitate  loci,  aut 
iustibus  subjiciebatur  in  conspectu  ejus, 
aut  virgis,  aut  condemnationi :  aut  si 


haec  omnia  transiret  dignitas  hominis, 
aut  gravissimis  contumeliis,  cum  diceret, 
Visne  hoc  in  agro  tuo  fieri  quod  aiteri 
facis  1  Clamabatque  ssepius,  quod  a 
quibusdam  sive  Judseis  sive  Christianis 
audierat,  et  tenebat  :  idque  per  praeco- 
nem,  cum  aliquem  emendaret,  dici  ju- 
bebat,  Quod  tibi  fieri  ?ion  vis  alien  ne 
feceris.  Quam  sententiam  usque  adeo 
dilexit,  ut  et  in  palatio  et  in  publicis 
operibus  prsescribi  juberet.”  (Lampri¬ 
dius  in  Alexandra  Severo,  c.  5°- ) 

x  Cyprian,  epist.  lxxvii.  ad  Nemesia- 
num  et  ceeteros  martyres  in  metallo  con¬ 
stitutes. 


28 


Catacombs. 


[sect. 


ing  with  them  in  the  mine,  that  is,  of  Sigus  y but  it  is  clear  that 
these  martyrs  were  not  at  work  anywhere  near  Rome.  Sigus  is 
a  town  in  Numidia,  in  Africa,  and  it  is  more  probable  that  Cyprian 
in  exile  wrote  to  his  own  personal  friends  in  his  diocese,  then  in 
prison,  and  perhaps  afterwards  condemned  to  death.  There  is  a 
figure  of  S.  Cyprian,  with  those  of  other  martyrs,  in  the  Roman  Cata¬ 
combs  ;  but  these  figures  are  of  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries,  and 
are  no  evidence  of  events  of  the  second  and  third.  S.  Cyprian  also 
mentions  Felix  as  one  who  had  worked  next  to  him  in  chains,  under 
Diennius ;  but  there  is  nothing  to  indicate  that  this  was  in  Rome 
or  anywhere  near  to  it.  Gallus  and  Gallienus  were  then  emperors. 

S.  Augustine,  in  his  celebrated  treatise  on  the  City  of  God,  written 
about  a.d.  400,  says,  “Whoever  heard  any  of  the  faithful,  when  the 
priest  was  standing  at  the  altar  even  over  the  body  of  a  martyr, 
erected  for  the  honour  and  glory  of  God,  say  in  his  prayers,  I  offer 
sacrifice  unto  thee,  Peter,  or  Paul,  or  Cyprian,  when  he  offered,  in  his 
memory ,  to  God,  who  made  them  men  and  martyrs  ?  Whoever,  there¬ 
fore,  offers  obsequies  in  the  places  of  the  martyrdoms,  and  orna¬ 
ments  them,  does  so  in  their  memory ,  not  as  sacred  things  or  sacri¬ 
fices  as  to  gods 

Tertulliana,  in  his  Apologies,  written  about  a.d.  220,  mentions  the 
collecting  of  alms,  and  distributing  them  for  various  purposes,  placing 
first  for  the  purpose  of  sepulture,  then  attending  to  the  sick,  to 
orphans,  and  to  old  people,  assisting  the  needy,  and  those  confined 
for  the  faith  in  prison,  in  mines,  or  in  islands. 

“  S.  Ambrose  b  speaks  of  the  martyrs  Gervasius  and  Protasius  in  this  way.  He 
says  that  he  had  intended  to  be  buried  there  (under  the  altar)  himself,  because  it 
seemed  to  him  fitting  that  the  priest  should  rest  where  he  was  wont  to  offer  Holy 
Sacrifice  whilst  alive,  but  that  he  yields  the  place  to  the  martyrs  to  whom  it  is 
due,  for  that  those  triumphant  victims  ought  to  be  where  Christ  is  the  victim  ( ubi 
Christus  hostia  est).  Only  He  who  died  for  all  lies  upon  the  altar,  they  who  were 
redeemed  by  His  passion  under  it c.  In  which  last  words  he  seems  to  indicate 
a  reference  to  the  language  of  the  Book  of  the  Apocalypse,  vi.  9 — 11  [I  saw  under 
the  altar  the  souls  of  those  that  were  slain  for  the  Word  of  God  and  for  the  testi¬ 
mony  which  they  held.  ] 

“That  which  S.  Ambrose  testifies  about  Milan,  Prudentius  testifies  about 


y  “  Cypriano  charissimo  et  dilectis- 
simo,  Felix,  Jader,  Polianus,  una  cum 
presbyteris  et  omnibus  nobiscum  com- 
morantibus  apud  Metallum  Siguense 
retemam  in  Domino  salutem.”  (S.  Cy- 
priani  Epist.  So.) 

7  “  Qusecumque  igitur  adhibentur  re- 
ligiosorum  obsequia  in  Martyrum  locis, 
ornamenta  sunt  memoriarum,  non  sacra 


vel  sacrificia  mortuorum  tanquam  deo- 
rum.  Quicumque  etiam  epulas  suas  eo 
deferunt,  quod  quidem  a  Chrislianis 
melioribus  non  fit,”  &c.  (S.  Aug.  de 

Civit.  Dei,  lib.  viii.  c.  27.) 

a  Tertulliani  Apologeticus,  c.  39. 
b  Ambrosii  epist.  xxii.  13  ;  edit.  Bene¬ 
dict.  v  vol.  ii.  fob  877. 
c  Northcote,  p.  401. 


III.] 


The  Martyrs. 


29 


Spain d;  of  the  sepulchres  of  S.  Eulalia  at  Barcelona,  and  of  S.  Vincent  at 
Valenza :  also  of  S.  Hippolytus  in  Rome.  S.  Jerome e  also  about  the  tombs  of 
S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul  in  the  same  city ;  and  he  appeals  at  the  same  time  to  the 
practice  of  all  the  bishops  throughout  the  world. 

“We  must  not  suppose,  however,  that  the  altar  was  always  immediately  over 
the  grave,  though  doubtless  this  was  the  more  usual  practice.  Prudentius  speaks 
as  though,  in  the  case  of  S.  Hippolytus,  the  altar  was  only  near  his  tombf ;  and 
both  Bosio  and  Boldetti  seem  to  have  found  instances  in  which  the  altar  was  placed 
in  the  middle  of  the  chamber,  not  on  a  tomb  in  the  walls,  just  as  it  was  at  one 
period  in  the  Papal  crypt.  Neither  were  the  mcnsce  (slabs)  of  these  altar-tombs 
always  fixed  and  immovable.  On  the  contrary,  in  three  or  four  instances  they  have 
been  found  with  massive  bronze  rings  inserted  in  them,  by  which  they  could  be 
lifted  off  and  a  sight  of  the  martyr’s  relics  obtained  &.  S.  Martin  of  Tours  is  said  to 
have  been  the  first  saint,  not  a  martyr,  whose  tomb  became  an  altar  h.  When  altars 
were  multiplied  in  churches,  it  became  a  rule  universally  observed,  that  the  altar 
must  contain  some  relics,  and  there  still  remain  many  indications  of  the  ancient 
practice  in  the  prayers  and  ceremonies  of  the  Liturgy  (of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church).” 

The  acts  of  the  martyrs,  collected  and  published  in  the  great 
work  of  the  Bollandists,  contain  many  particulars  respecting  the 
persecutions  of  the  early  Christians ;  and  although  these  acts  cannot 
be  traced  to  any  early  period,  and  are  probably  much  interpolated, 
they  have  in  all  probability  a  basis  of  truth  and  certain  particulars 
of  real  history  not  to  be  found  elsewhere.  They  cannot  be  received 
as  authority  on  any  doubtful  point,  for  few  of  them  can  be  traced 
further  back  than  the  eighth  or  ninth  century ;  but,  like  all  other 
traditions,  they  should  rather  be  sifted  and  examined  than  sum¬ 
marily  rejected.  When  the  stories  related  agree  with  others  more 
authentic,  and  we  know  from  other  sources  that  a  persecution  of  the 
Christians  was  going  on  at  the  time  mentioned,  and  if  the  facts  re¬ 
lated  agree  with  the  traditions  indicated,  we  may  receive  them  as 
probably  true,  and  they  add  much  to  the  dry  outlines  of  history 
which  they  clothe  with  living  interest.  The  frequent  mention  of 
a  place  of  public  execution  in  front  of  the  Temple  of  Mars,  between 
the  Via  Appia  and  the  Via  Latina,  may  be  received  as  proof  that 
there  was  such  a  place  of  public  execution  in  that  locality. 

Many  of  the  early  bishops  of  Rome  were  martyrs,  and  in  a  time 
of  persecution  it  was  natural  that  the  bishop  would  be  the  first  per¬ 
son  selected  for  an  example,  in  the  endeavour  to  frighten  his  flock} 
and  make  the  timid  abjure  their  faith ;  we  know  that  it  was  by  the 


d  Prudentii  Peristeph.  hymni  iii. , 
v.  191  ;  iv.,  v.  7. 

e  Hieronym.  adv.  Vigilant. 

1  “  Propter  ubi  apposita  estara  dicata 
Deo.” 

(Prudentii  Peristeph.  hymn,  xi.,  S. 


Hippolyt.  v.  170.) 

e  De  Rossi,  Roma  Sotterranea,  vol.  i. 
pp.  169,  285.  _  . 

h  Greppo,  Dissertations  sur  l’Histoire 
du  Culte  des  Reliques,  p.  16. 


30 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


blood  of  the  martyrs  that  the  Church  was  strengthened ;  but  if  the 
crown  of  martyrdom  had  been  bestowed  on  so  many  thousands,  as  is 
stated  in  the  later  legends  of  a  credulous  age,  it  would  have  ceased  to 
be  any  distinction,  and  we  should  not  read  of  persons  being  anxious 
to  obtain  the  honour  of  interment  near  the  relics  of  a  martyr,  if  these 
relics  existed  by  thousands.  At  one  period  the  credulous  Romans 
were  taught  to  believe  that  all  the  persons  buried  in  the  Catacombs 
were  saints  or  martyrs,  as  we  see  by  inscriptions  in  the  churches ; 
they  are  still  taught  that  all  were  Christians ;  but  the  number  of 
Pagan  sarcophagi  and  Pagan  inscriptions  found  in  the  Catacombs 
to  the  present  day  are  not  consistent  with  this  theory,  and  have  to 
be  explained  away.  The  Pontifical  authorities  will  not  now  admit 
either  that  any  Pagans  were  ever  interred  in  the  Catacombs,  or  that 
they  were  ever  used  for  interment  after  a.d.  410  in  both  these 
points  they  go  too  far.  They  assert,  without  hesitation,  that  all  the 
Pagan  inscriptions  found  in  the  Catacombs  were  merely  brought 
there  as  old  marble,  to  be  used  again  as  palimpsests.  This  opinion 
seems  to  be  grounded  on  a  few  instances  only ;  but  there  are  many 
other  Pagan  inscriptions  now  lying  in  the  Catacombs,  with  the 
mortar  or  cement  on  the  edges  of  them  for  fastening  them  against 
the  wall.  In  some  instances  the  back  of  the  slab  is  left  rough,  and 
there  is  no  trace  of  any  intention  to  clean  it,  and  cut  them  to  fit 
the  loculi ,  a  process  not  likely  to  have  been  carried  on  in  the 
Catacombs ;  they  appear,  indeed,  to  have  been  left  there  neg¬ 
lected.  The  evidence  of  Boldetti,  who  was  himself  the  keeper  of 
the  Catacombs,  of  the  number  of  Pagan  inscriptions  found  in  his 
time,  seems  conclusive  on  this  point,  although  he  himself  followed 
the  traditions  of  his  office,  that  the  Catacombs  were  exclusively 
Christian,  as  the  present  authorities  do.  Padre  Marchi,  in  his  valu¬ 
able  work,  records  a  number  of  Pagan  inscriptions  found  by  him,  and 
in  his  Plans  shews  the  spots  where  they  were  found.  The  draw¬ 
ings  in  one  cubiculum  of  the  great  catacomb  of  Praetextatus  are 
distinctly  Pagan,  and  not  Christian  h  The  public  have  long  been 
rigidly  excluded  from  that  part  of  this  great  catacomb  by  the  Pon¬ 
tifical  authorities. 

That  the  Catacombs  were  occasionally  used  for  interment  long  after 
the  fifth  century  appears  in  many  ways.  Among  the  inscriptions  now 
arranged  in  museums,  in  the  corridors,  in  the  cloisters,  or  in  the 
porches  of  churches  in  Rome,  originally  brought  from  the  Catacombs, 

1  Such  at  least  is  Dr.  Northcote’s  in-  Brownlow,  ch.  iv.  p.  104.) 
terpretation  of  Signor  De  Rossi’s  views.  i  See  Plates  XIII.  and  XIV. 

( Roma  Sottcrranea ,  by  Northcote  and 


III.] 


Translation  of  Relics. 


31 


are  many  of  a  later  date  than  the  fifth  century,  and  of  the  large 
number  of  glass  vessels  and  lamps  also,  many  belong  to  a  later  period. 
Father  Garrucci,  one  of  the  most  learned  Jesuits  of  the  day,  who  has 
specially  studied  this  subject,  does  not  agree  with  Signor  de  Rossi 
upon  it,  and  has  published  works  in  opposition  to  his  views.  The 
list  of  celebrated  persons  buried  in  the  Catacombs  is  brought  down 
even  to  the  twelfth  century,  when  the  celebrated  Countess  Matilda, 
to  whom  the  Roman  see  was  mainly  indebted  for  its  landed  estates 
and  temporal  power,  is  said  to  have  been  honoured  with  interment 
in  the  Catacombs  near  a  martyr. 

The  Catacombs  were  much  damaged  during  the  siege  of  Rome  by 
the  Goths  under  Vitiges,  in  537.  “The  churches  and  the  bodies  of 
the  holy  martyrs  were  exterminated  by  the  Goths,”  says  Anastasius  \ 
They  were  restored  by  the  Pontiffs,  and  chiefly  by  John  III.  [a.d.  560 
—  574],  “who  loved  and  restored  the  cemeteries  of  the  holy  martyrs. 
He  ordained  that  oblations  (or  offerings)  should  be  made,  and  the 
Catacombs  lighted  with  lamps  on  every  Sunday  in  Lent.”  This 
practice  was  continued  in  the  following  century. 

In  the  various  sieges  of  Rome  by  the  barbarians,  the  Catacombs 
were  repeatedly  rifled  in  search  of  treasure,  and  the  Lombards  espe¬ 
cially  are  said  by  Anastasius  to  have  wilfully  destroyed  many  of  them. 
They  were  repaired  and  restored  by  the  Romans  in  the  time  of 
Hadrian  I.  and  Leo  III. 

In  the  time  of  Paschal  II.,  a.d.  1104,  the  Roman  Christians  went 
barefoot  on  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Catacombs.  Honorius  III.,  a.d.  1220, 
translated  a  number  of  bodies  from  the  catacomb  of  Pontianus, 
called  in  his  time  ad  Ursum  Pileatum.  It  is  probable  that  he  restored 
the  paintings  in  some  of  the  vaults  from  which  he  had  taken  them, 
as  such  appears  to  have  been  the  custom.  Some  of  the  paintings 
published  in  Perret’s  work  appear  to  be  of  the  thirteenth  century. 

In  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Catacombs  are  said  to  have  been  abused, 
like  everything  else  in  Rome,  for  warlike  purposes  in  the  barons’ 
wars,  and  battles  are  said  to  have  taken  place  in  them  between 
the  adherents  of  the  Colonna  and  the  Orsini  families.  Petrarch  de¬ 
scribes  these  lamentable  events  in  his  time,  and  the  adherents  of 
Cola  di  Rienzi  are  said  to  have  used  them  as  places  of  muster  and 
concealment.  Notwithstanding  all  this  desecration,  they  seem  to  have 
been  still  used  occasionally  as  places  of  pious  pilgrimage.  Amongst 
the  graffiti,  or  names  scratched  upon  the  walls,  with  several  dates 
of  the  fourteenth  century  have  been  found,  a  bishop  of  Rome  and 

k  “Ecclesise  et  corpora  sanctorum  martyrum  exterminata  sunt  a  Gothis.”  Anas¬ 
tas.  99  ;  Silverius,  a.d.  536. 


32 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


companions  early  in  this  century,  with  several  German  names 
Latinized,  and  the  date  1397.  On  one  of  the  early  Christian 
tombs  was  found  a  small  chalice  of  silver  gilt,  and  a  palm-leaf 
worked  in  silver,  with  the  date  1340.  In  another  crypt  was  dis¬ 
covered  this  inscription,  with  the  date  1321  above  it,  and  the  names 
of  three  visitors  beneath  it : — 

“  Gather  together,  O  Christians,  in  these  caverns,  to  read  the  holy  books;  to 
sing  hymns  to  the  honour  of  martyrs  and  the  saints  that  here  lie  buried,  having 
died  in  the  Lord ;  to  sing  Psalms  for  those  who  are  now  dying  in  the  faith. 
There  is  light  in  this  darkness.  There  is  music  in  these  tombs.” 

In  the  catacomb  of  S.  Calixtus,  the  names  of  various  pilgrims, 
who  had  visited  them  in  the  fifteenth  century,  are  scratched  upon 
the  walls:  some  Franciscan  friars  in  1432;  Brother  Lawrence,  of 
Sicily,  with  twenty  brothers  of  the  order  of  friars  minor,  on  the 
seventeenth  of  January,  1451,  and  again  in  1455,  “in  the  week  in 
which  Pope  Nicholas  V.  died;”  some  Cistercians  in  1467  ;  the  abbot 
of  S.  Sebastian’s,  with  a  large  party,  in  1469  ;  other  Franciscan  friars 
in  1482.  At  the  same  period,  Pomponio  Leto,  and  other  litterati, 
who  were  active  in  the  revival  of  classical  literature,  and  were  sus¬ 
pected  of  heresy,  also  visited  them,  and  inscribed  their  names,  giving 
themselves,  apparently  in  joke,  grandiloquent  titles,  including  that 
of  Pontifex  Maximus  \ 

The  translation  of  the  relics  from  the  Catacombs  to  the  churches 
in  the  city,  did  not  begin  until  the  time  of  Pope  Theodore  [a.d. 
642 — 649],  when  “the  bodies  of  SS.  Primus  and  Felicianus,  which 
had  been  buried  in  the  sepulchre  on  the  Via  Nomentana,  were 
brought  into  the  city,  and  interred  in  the  church  of  S.  Stephen  the 
Proto-martyr.” 

A  second  devastation  of  the  Catacombs  took  place  in  755,  which 
was  even  more  fatal,  because  at  that  time  they  were  reduced  to 
a  state  of  ruin  by  Astolfus,  King  of  the  Lombards.  A  particular 
account  of  their  miserable  state  is  given  by  Paul  I.  in  761,  in  a  letter 
to  John  the  Abbot,  published  in  Labbe’s  “  Collection  of  the  Councils.” 
The  same  prelate  removed  many  of  the  relics  to  the  churches  of 
S.  Stephen  and  S.  Silvestro  in  capite,  which  he  had  then  just  built, 
and  to  several  other  churches  in  the  city. 

This  practice  was  continued  by  other  Pontiffs  down  to  the  end  of 
the  ninth  century,  as  we  are  informed  by  Anastasius,  who  mentions 
this  in  the  life  of  Nicholas  I.,  a.d.  858,  the  last  that  he  wrote,  and 
the  continuator  repeats  the  same  account  of  later  pontiffs.  Simul- 

1  See  Tiraboschi,  Storia  della  lettera-  97  ;  De  Rossi,  S.  Calisto,  and  North- 
tura  Italiana,  tom.  vi.  part  i.  pp.  93 —  cote,  p.  3. 


III.] 


The  Martyrs. 


33 


taneously  with  this  the  repairs  and  ornaments  in  the  Catacombs  were 
carried  on,  the  place  where  the  body  of  a  martyr  had  once  been  buried 
being  still  considered  sacred  after  the  body  had  been  removed. 

The  Catacombs  do  not  appear  to  have  been  gmerally  used  as 
places  of  interment  after  the  fifth  century,  but  the  members  of 
families  who  had  vaults  continued  to  bury  in  them  for  a  long  period ; 
in  several  instances  the  painted  vault  has  been  cut  through  to  insert 
fresh  bodies,  after  the  cubiculum  or  chapel  was  full.  Some  inscriptions 
of  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries  have  been  found,  and  are  preserved  in 
the  crypt  of  S.  Prassede,  and  in  other  places.  Many  paintings  and  in¬ 
scriptions  were  restored  by  Hadrian  I.  in  the  eighth  century,  and 
Leo  III.  at  the  beginning  of  the  ninth,  after  the  invasion  of  the 
Lombards  ra,  as  has  been  said.  A  large  proportion  of  the  paintings 
now  remaining  in  the  Catacombs  are  of  this  period,  for  example, 
those  in  the  sepulchral  chapel  of  S.  Cornelius,  in  the  catacomb  of 
S.  Calixtus,  published  by  Signor  de  Rossi n,  and  including  many  of 
those  usually  referred  to  in  England  as  of  ecclesiastical  authority : 
a  comparison  of  the  style  of  drawing  with  that  of  the  mosaic  pic¬ 
tures  in  the  churches  demonstrates  this.  Although  we  have  paint¬ 
ings  of  the  second  and  third  centuries,  and  architectural  details  even 
of  the  first,  we  find  no  painting  distinctively  Christian  before  the 
time  of  Constantine,  and  Boldetti  is  in  error  when  he  ascribes  some 
paintings  in  the  catacomb  of  S.  Calixtus  to  the  time  of  Nero  °. 

The  Inscriptions  having  been  removed  from  their  places  and  col¬ 
lected  in  museums,  in  many  instances  without  any  record  of  the 
particular  catacomb  from  which  each  came,  their  historical  value 
is  almost  destroyed  ;  but  the  dates  of  some  of  the  inscriptions 
are  ascertained  by  the  names  of  the  Consuls,  and  from  these  it 
appears  they  were  in  use  even  in  the  first  century.  In  the  Vatican 
Museum  is  one  of  a.d.  71  : — 

VC.  VESPATIANO  III.  COS.  AN. 

Boldetti  found  another  of  the  date  of  102  or  107,  scratched  on  the 
plaster  in  the  catacomb  of  Lucina,  on  the  Via  Ostiensis.  They  be¬ 
come  very  numerous  throughout  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  centuries, 
and  occasionally  as  late  as  the  sixth,  and  even  the  seventh  ;  one  of 
the  date  of  568  is  given  by  Boldetti  (p.  86),  another  of  610  by 
Aringhi. 

(PH)OCAE  .  III.  COS  ....  CARI  .  AMICI. 

m  See  De  Rossi,  Roma  Sotterranea,  0  Boldetti,  Osserv.  sopra  i  cim.  de’ 
vol.  i.  pp.  303,  304.  SS.  Mart.,  1.  i.  p.  5,  c.  xviii. 

n  De  Rossi,  plates  vi.,  vii. 

D 


34 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  form  so  usual  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
hic  iacet,  is  extremely  rare  in  the  Catacombs. 

Each  painted  chapel,  or  cubiculum ,  was  usually  the  burying-place  of 
some  family p  to  whom  it  had  been  sold  in  perpetuity,  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  plot  of  ground  by  the  side  of  a  road  was  to  the 
more  wealthy  families  9.  Of  this  we  have  evidence  of  various  kinds ; 
perhaps  the  best  are  inscriptions ;  one  of  these  is  thus  printed  by 
Boldetti  (p.  53) : — 

IN  .  CRVPTA  .  NOBA  .  RETRO  .  SANCTVS. 

Another  from  the  catacomb  of  S.  Balbina  is  in  the  Vatican  Mu¬ 
seum  : — 

IN  .  CYMETERIVM  .  BALBINAE  .  IN  .  CRVPTA  .  NOBA. 

There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  right  of  interment  in 
a  family  vault  was  considered  to  belong  to  all  members  of  it,  not¬ 
withstanding  any  change  of  religion  or  inter-marriage  with  one  of 
another  religion,  and  this  right  of  family  was  respected  alike  by 
Christians  and  Jewsr. 

The  agapae,  or  love-feasts,  were  held  upon  various  occasions, 
on  a  wedding-day,  on  the  day  of  a  funeral,  on  the  anniversary 
of  the  dedication  of  a  church  or  cemetery,  and  on  the  anniver¬ 
sary  of  a  martyrdom.  These  last  were  especially  held  in  the 
Catacombs. 

An  oration  in  praise  of  the  forty  holy  martyrs  is  attributed  to 


p  The  following  inscription  probably 
applies  to  a  aibiculum  for  a  family  : — 

CVBICVLVM  DVPLEX  CVM  ARCISOLIIS 
ET  LVMINARE 

IVSSV  PP  SCI  MARCELLINI  DIACONVS 
ISTE 

SEVERVS  FECIT  MANSIONEM  IN  PACE 
QVIETAM  SIBI  SVISQVE. 

This  inscription  is  given  by  De  Rossi 
as  from  the  catacomb  of  S.  Calixtus, 
and  as  a  proof  that  it  was  under  the 
special  jurisdiction  of  the  Popes  ;  but  it 
seems  to  admit  of  a  different  interpre¬ 
tation  :  that  Severus  made  a  double 
chamber  or  burial-vault  for  himself  and 
his  family,  in  the  time  of  Bishop  Mar- 
cellinus  and  of  the  Emperor  Diocletian. 
It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  this  in¬ 
scription  was  not  left  in  its  place  :  the 
removal  of  it  deprives  it  of  half  its  value 
and  interest. 

1  The  following  relates  to  the  pur¬ 


chase  of  a  crypt  near  the  body  of  a 
saint : — 

IN  CRVPTA  NOBA  RETRO  SANCTVS  EME- 
RVM  SE  VIVAS  BALERRA  ET  SABINA 
MERVM  LOCV  BISONI  AB  APRONE  ET 
A  BIATORE 

SERPENTIVS  EMIT  LOCVM  A  QVINTO 
FOSSORE  AD  SANTVM  CORNELIVM. 
r  The  following  is  given  by  Gruter, 
P-  399,  1  : — 

COTTIA  .  A.  COTTI  .  F.  GALLA 
TESTAMENTO  .  FIERI  .  JVSSIT 
A.  COTTIO  .  PATRI  .  PRO  .  COS. 
HISPANIAE  .  ET  .  PACVLLAE  .  MATRI  .  ET 
A.  COTTIO  .  FRATRI  .  QVAESTORI  AED 
PLEBI .  ET  .  MEMMIAE  .  GALLAE  .  AVIAE 
HVIC.  MONVMENTO.TVTELAE. NOMINE. 
CEDVNT  .  AGRI  .  PVRI  .  IVGERA  .  DE  - 
CEM  .  ET 

TABERNA  .  QVAE  .  PROXIME .  EVM  . 
LOCVM  .  EST. 

“Romae in  domo  Latini  Juvenalis  juxta 
plateam  Judaeorum  tab.  marmorea.  ” 


III.] 


The  Martyrs. 


35 


S.  Gregory  of  Nyssa9,  as  written  in  the  fourth  century,  soon  after 
the  persecution  under  Julian  the  Apostate;  but  the  editor  says  it  is 
one  oration.  It  is  now  divided  into  two  parts,  and  is  said  to  have 
been  so  divided  because  he  was  interrupted  on  the  first  day  by  the 
crowd  and  confusion,  and  was  obliged  to  stop  and  conclude  it  on 
another  day.  This  oration,  if  genuine,  was  evidently  spoken  at 
a  commemorative  feast,  for  in  the  beginning  of  the  second  part  he 
mentions  the  law  about  convivial  meetings,  and  that  it  was  neces¬ 
sary  to  prepare  a  supper  in  honour  of  the  martyrs.  At  this  supper 
he  was  speaking  under  the  protection  of  the  law. 

It  is  one  of  many  other  curious  instances  of  the  intense  igno¬ 
rance  of  the  Roman  population  during  the  sixteenth  century,  that 
the  very  existence  of  the  Catacombs  had  been  forgotten,  and 
hence  the  accidental  discovery  of  them  in  15  78  excited  great  in¬ 
terest  and  attention  *.  The  valuable  works  of  Panvinius,  Bosio  and 
Aringhi u  were  eagerly  sought  for,  and  the  populace  were  half  mad  on 
the  subject;  it  was  at  once  assumed  that  all  the  persons  buried  in 
these  public  cemeteries  during  five  or  six  centuries  were  saints  and 
martyrs.  Their  relics  were  supposed  to  work  miracles,  nearly  every 
tomb  was  rifled  in  search  of  treasure,  and  the  bones,  alleged  to  be 
those  of  martyrs,  were  sold  at  a  high  rate.  Every  inscription  was 
removed  from  its  place.  The  tombstones  were  built  up  in  the 
walls  of  the  porches  and  cloisters  of  the  churches,  and  after  a  time 
museums  were  formed  to  contain  them,  in  which  they  were  classed 
and  arranged  according  to  the  fancy  or  the  object  of  the  directors v. 

In  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries  it  was  the  custom  (as  we 


8  S.  Gregorii  Nysseni  Opera,  vol.  iii. 
pp.  490 — 514.  Editio  Paris,  sive  Aigid. 
Morelli,  1638,  folio.  This  oration  is  con¬ 
sidered  by  later  editors  to  be  spurious, 
and  probably  not  earlier  than  the  eighth 
century. 

*  Baronius  had  visited  them,  but  was 
too  much  occupied  with  his  great  work 
on  the  “Ecclesiastical  Annals”  to  un¬ 
dertake  any  other.  Ciaconius  employed 
artists  to  copy  the  paintings ;  but  he 
also  was  engaged  in  his  great  work, 
the  Lives  of  the  Popes  and  Cardinals. 
The  real  name  of  this  author  was  Cha¬ 
con,  he  was  a  Spaniard ;  but  he  resided 
many  years  in  Rome,  and  is  always 
known  by  the  Latin  name  Ciaconius, 
which  he  adopted. 

u  Others  began  various  works  on  the 
subject ;  but  Bosio  was  the  only  one 
who  lived  to  complete  the  task  to 
which  he  had  dedicated  a  great  part 


of  his  life,  and  his  book  is  the  founda¬ 
tion  of  all  subsequent  knowledge  of  the 
subject.  (See  the  Appendix.) 

T  The  arrangement  of  the  inscriptions 
by  Signor  de  Rossi  in  the  gallery  of  the 
monastery  of  S.  Paul’s  outside  the  Walls, 
and  in  the  Christian  Museum  at  the 
Lateran,  in  which  they  are  divided  into 
classes,  is  no  doubt  very  valuable  and 
satisfactory  in  its  way,  and,  if  taken  in 
connection  with  his  valuable  work  upon 
these  early  inscriptions,  is  perfectly  in¬ 
telligible  ;  but  a  large  and  expensive 
folio  book  is  not  in  everybody’s  hands, 
and  the  simple  chronological  arrange¬ 
ment,  with  a  systematic  index,  would 
have  been  more  generally  satisfactory. 

See  Signor  de  Rossi,  Inscriptiones 
Christian*  Urbis  Romse,  septimo  sse- 
culo  antiquiores,  folio.  Romse,  1857 — • 
61.  He  gives  an  excellent  Chronological 
Table  at  the  end  of  the  first  volume. 


D  2 


36 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


have  said)  to  make  pilgrimages  to  the  tombs  of  the  martyrs  in  the 
Catacombs,  and  make  offerings  at  those  shrines.  Most  of  the  paint¬ 
ings  there  were  made  by  or  for  the  pilgrims,  and  comparatively 
few  of  them  are  of  any  very  early  date.  In  the  eighth  and  ninth 
centuries  these  profitable  relics  were  considered  to  be  in  danger 
from  the  invasion  of  the  Lombards;  they  were  brought  in  large 
quantities  within  the  walls  of  Rome  for  security,  and  buried  in 
crypts  built  for  the  purpose,  which  were  called  Catacombs,  as  at 
S.  Prassede,  the  Quattro  Santi  Coronati,  S.  Maria  in  Cosmedin,  and 
several  others.  We  read  of  many  waggon-loads  being  carried  to 
a  single  church  in  Rome  w.  After  the  Catacombs  went  out  of  use, 
the  churches  were  much  used  as  burial-places,  some  being  more 
popular  than  others ;  S.  Maria  in  Ara  Coeli  was  at  one  period  the 
favourite  burying-place,  and  other  churches  have  had  their  turn. 

That  the  small  chapels  in  the  Catacombs  were  intended  chiefly 
for  the  performance  of  the  burial-service,  or  for  families  or  pilgrims 
to  pray  at  the  shrines  of  the  martyrs,  seems  evident  from  their  size, 
as  none  of  them  could  hold  more  than  fifty  or  sixty  persons ;  and  at 
the  time  they  were  chiefly  built,  in  the  third  or  fourth  century,  the 
Christians  assembled  for  public  worship  in  much  larger  numbers.  But 
in  times  of  persecution  they  were  used  occasionally  for  the  regular 
Church  service,  when  the  Christians  were  not  permitted  to  meet  as 
usual  in  the  houses  of  the  more  wealthy  members  of  the  body,  who 
usually  received  them  in  their  halls  or  basilicas.  From  this  circum¬ 
stance,  in  later  times,  when  the  name  of  basilica  became  synonymous 
with  church  or  ecclesia  x,  these  chapels  were  sometimes  called  also  by 
that  name.  There  is  an  excellent  chapter  in  Bingham’s  “  Antiquities 
of  the  Christian  Church”  (book  viii.),  on  the  different  names  given 
to  churches  at  various  periods,  and  the  distinction  between  oratories, 
chapels,  and  churches.  They  were  sometimes  called  martyria,  (which 
would  apply  to  these  chapels,)  and  confessio ,  which  name  was  after¬ 
wards  confined  to  the  small  crypt  under  the  altar  in  which  the  relics 
of  the  confessors  and  martyrs  were  collected  and  exhibited.  They 
were  originally  also  called  ccemeteria,  as  in  the  canons  of  the  Council 
of  Eliberis,  which  was  held  in  the  heat  of  the  Diocletian  persecu¬ 
tion,  when  the  Emperor  forbade  their  assembling  even  in  these 
underground  chapels ;  and  those  near  the  surface  were  sometimes 
destroyed.  On  such  sites  new  chapels  or  churches  were  generally 

w  Boniface  VI.  (A.D.  896)  is  said  to  fifty-six  churches  (ecclesia:)  in  the  Cata- 
have  brought  twenty-eight  waggon-loads  combs  :  these  could  only  be  the  small 
to  the  Pantheon  alone.  burial  chapels  before  mentioned. 

x  Bosio  and  Aringhi  give  a  list  of 


III.] 


Cemetery  Chapels. 


37 


built  after  the  persecution  ceased,  which  may  partly  account  for  so 
many  of  them  being  of  the  fourth  century. 

Mabillon,  in  his  Iter  Italicum y,  relates  that  in  his  time,  the  body 
of  a  woman  found  in  the  catacomb  of  S.  Calixtus  was  sent  to  the 
Augustinians  of  Toulouse  as  that  of  the  martyr  Julia  Evodia,  be¬ 
cause  they  had  found  with  it  the  vase  supposed  to  contain  the  blood 
of  the  martyr.  But  the  inscription  was  Pagan,  beginning  with  the 
D.  m.,  and  was  not  that  of  Julia  Evodia,  the  martyr,  but  that  of  her 
mother  Casta*.  Muratori  gives  an  inscription a  as  Pagan  from  the 
D.  m.,  and  from  the  mention  of  the  College  of  Pontiffs.  Boldetti  con¬ 
siders  this  as  old  marble  only,  the  same  as  Signor  de  Rossi.  This 
is  the  tradition  of  the  office. 

Boldetti b  gives  a  series  of  eleven  tombstones  with  the  inscrip¬ 
tions,  Pagan  on  one  side  and  Christian  on  the  other,  which  proves 
that  this  was  sometimes  the  case ;  but  the  fact  of  the  same  keeper 
of  the  Catacombs  giving  another  series  of  thirty-five  Pagan  inscrip¬ 
tions  found  in  the  Catacombs  in  his  time,  and  these  without  any 
mixture  of  Christian  indications,  but  Pagan  only,  goes  against  the 
theory  that  the  Catacombs  were  exclusively  for  Christian  burial. 

He  gives  a  series  of  twenty-four  Christian  inscriptions,  with  the 
d.m.  introduced,  or  what  may  be  considered  as  mixed  inscriptions, 
half-Christian  and  half-Pagan. 

r  Mabillon,  Museum  Italicum,  &c. 
tom.  i.  Iter,  p.  225. 

*  D.  M. 

IVLIA  EVODIA  KILIA  FECIT 
CASTAE  MATRI  .  ET  BENE  .  MERENTI 
QVAE  VIXIT  ANNIS  LXX. 

8  HYGIAE  .  C  .  SIBI  .  ET  .  ALEXANDRO 
.  marit[o]  SVO  ITA 

VT  .  POST  .  MORTE[M]  .  HYGIAE  NEMO 
IN  HOC  .  SARCOPHAGO. 

PONANTVR  .  NISI  .  IPSA  .  ET  .  MA- 
RITVS  .  SVVS  .  QVOD  .  SI  .  QVl[s] 

ALIVM  .  POSVER1T  .  DET  .  COLLEGIO  . 

PONTIFIC  .  PENA  .  XSS.  DECMNS.  IN. 

It  is  given  also  by  Boldetti,  p.  446. 
b  Boldetti,  Osservazioni  sopra  i  Cimi- 
terj  de’  SS.  Martiri,  ed  Antichi  Cris- 
tiani  di  Roma,  See. ,  2  vols.  folio,  Roma, 

1720,  lib.  ii.  cap.  ix.,  x.  and  xi.  He 
gives  engravings  of  tombstones  found 
by  him,  one  from  the  catacomb  of 
S.  Agnes  with  this  inscription  : — 

DOMINE  FRATER 

I  LARIS  SEMPER 

LVDERE  TABVLA 

In  the  centre  of  the  inscription  is  a  sort 
of  board  for  a  game,  and  under  it  two 


views  of  a  vase,  one  of  the  exterior,  the 
other  of  the  interior,  with  two  dice  in 
it,  distinctly  Pagan  emblems.  See  p.  447. 

The  following  was  found  in  the  Cata¬ 
comb  of  S.  Priscilla  (See  Boldetti, 
p.  441) : 

E.  D.  M. 

ET  .  BON[A]E  .  MEMORIAE  .  AVR. 
LEVCADI  .  CIVI  .  TICINENSI  .  FILIO. 
AVR  .  GRECIONIS  .  QVI  .  VIXIT.  ANNIS. 
PIVS  .  MINVS  .  XXV.  ADFINIS  .  DE[-] 
PRENSVS  .  IN  .  LOCO  .  PEREGRE  .  CON[-] 
TRA  VOTVM  .  FIERI  .  CVRAVIT. 

One  of  the  tombstones  found  in  the 
catacomb  of  Pretextatus  is  a  list  of 
twenty-eight  names  of  soldiers  or  legio¬ 
naries,  and  eight  officers  of  the  legion. 
The  upper  part  is  wanting.  There  are 
thirty  lines  remaining,  the  last  three — 
DEDIC.  IMPP.  M.  AVRELIO. 
ANTONINO.  II.  IT.  P.  SEPTIMIO 
GETA.  COSS.  V.  KAL.  IVNIAS. 

All  the  letters  A  are  cut  as  A,  without 
the  cross  line. 

For  a  further  account  of  Boldetti’s 
valuable  work,  see  the  Appendix. 


38 


Catacombs. 


[SECT.  hi. 


Some  of  these  tombstones  were  found  on  the  surface  of  the  ground 
outside  of  the  catacomb,  others  have  evidently  been  broken  off  to 
fit  the  openings  of  the  loculi.  These  inscriptions  are  given  by 
Boldetti  as  belonging  to  the  Catacombs,  and  also  by  Fabretti 
in  his  work  on  the  inscriptions0  found  there,  published  about  the 
same  time. 


e  Raphaelis  Fabretti,  Gasparis  F.,Ur-  tio  et  additamentum,  una  cum  aliquot 
binatis,  Inscriptionum  antiquarum  quae  emendationibus  Gruterianis,  &c.  Romas, 
in  asdibus  paternis  asservantur  Explica-  mdccii.  folio. 


IV.  CONSTRUCTION. 


In  the  Roman  Campagna d  there  were  forty-three  cemeteries  *,  cata¬ 
combs,  or  cubicula,  whose  names  are  recorded  in  inscriptions,  in 
martyrologies,  and  in  the  Pontifical  Registers  used  by  Anasta- 
siusf,  since  republished,  with  additions,  in  various  forms,  and  re¬ 
peated  in  substance  by  Baronius  in  his  Annals,  and  Panvinius  in 
his  treatise  on  the  Cemeteries.  Aringhi  reckons  the  number  at  fifty- 
six,  and  from  the  account  of  Signor  de  Rossi  it  appears  that  the 
number  is  now  reckoned  at  about  sixty.  The  number  of  general 
cemeteries  is  not  so  large. 

The  original  entrances  to  the  Catacombs  were  in  many  instances 
by  subterranean  roads  or  corridors,  sometimes  called  streets.  These 
corridors,  which  served  as  entrances  to  and  passages  in  the  burial- 
places,  were  originally  old  arenaria  or  sand-pit  roads,  from  which 
the  Pozzolana  sand  had  been  extracted ;  when  this  bed  of  sand  is 
extracted,  the  entrance  is  usually  closed.  The  soft  bed  of  Pozzolana 
sand  was,  however,  not  generally  used  for  interments,  but  the  harder 
bed  under  it,  called  “tufa  granulare.”  The  different  horizontal 
layers  or  beds  of  tufa  vary  very  much  in  hardness  and  also  in 
thickness.  There  are  hundreds  of  miles  of  old  sand-pit  corridors 
now  ready  for  use  as  burial-places  or  cemeteries,  and  useless  for 
any  other  purpose.  The  use  of  these  would  be  infinitely  preferable 
to  the  recent  Roman  practice  of  throwing  the  bodies  of  all  persons, 
whose  families  cannot  afford  to  buy  a  piece  of  land  in  perpetuity, 
into  a  pit,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  ancient  Romans  did  the 
bodies  of  their  slaves  g. 


d  The  galleries  in  the  Campagna  are 
said  to  extend  altogether  to  between 
800  and  900  miles,  and  the  number  of 
bodies  interred  in  them  to  have  been 
between  six  and  seven  millions.  These 
are  the  calculations  of  Padre  Marchi, 
but  the  grounds  on  which  they  rest  are 
not  very  satisfactory ;  there  seems  to 
have  been  a  good  deal  of  conjecture. 
There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  they 
are  of  enormous  extent,  and  must  have 
contained  a  very  large  number  of  bodies. 
e  Ciaconius,  vol.  i.  p.  142. 
f  See  p.  14,  Chronological  Table. 


*  There  are  three  hundred  and  eighty 
pits  provided  in  the  burial-ground  of 
S.  Lorenzo,  one  of  which  was  opened 
every  night.  All  the  bodies  brought 
for  intennent  that  day  or  night  were 
thrown  into  it,  after  being  first  stripped 
to  the  skin  by  the  officials  ;  and  then 
hot  lime  was  thrown  upon  them,  that 
they  might  be  thoroughly  decayed  be¬ 
fore  the  year  came  round.  The  mouth 
of  the  pit  was  closed  with  lime  grouting, 
so  that  no  effluvium  could  escape,  and 
this  covering  was  not  broken  until  the 
pit  was  wanted  to  be  used  again.  This 


40 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


These  corridors  or  passages  of  the  sand-pits  from  which  the  Pozzo- 
lana  sand  had  been  excavated,  are  large  enough  to  admit  a  horse 
and  cart ;  these  were  frequently  the  entrances  to  the  Catacombs,  the 
corridors  of  which  are  usually  by  the  side  of  or  under  those  of  the 
arenaricc,  or  sand-pits,  and  are  only  just  large  enough  for  a  man, 
or  two  men  with  a  body,  to  pass  along ;  the  height  varies  from  five 
to  seven  or  eight  feet,  or  more,  according  to  the  thickness  of  the 
bed  of  tufa.  In  the  catacomb  of  S.  Hermes,  part  of  the  wide  sand¬ 
pit  road  has  been  reduced  to  one-third  of  its  width,  by  building  up 
brick  walls  on  each  side  with  loculi  in  them. 

There  is  in  general,  at  present,  no  communication  between  one 
catacomb  and  another ;  each  occupies  a  separate  hill  or  rising  ground 
in  the  Campagna,  and  is  separated  from  the  others  by  the  intervening 
valleys.  When  the  first  tier  of  tombs  extended  to  the  edges  of  the 
hill,  a  second  was  made  under  it,  and  then  sometimes  a  third,  or 
more.  The  manner  in  which  the  rock  is  excavated  in  a  number  of 
corridors  twisting  in  all  directions,  in  order  to  make  room  for  the  largest 
possible  number  of  bodies,  is  thus  accounted  for.  The  plan  of  the 
catacomb  of  S.  Priscilla  is  a  good  illustration  of  this.  It  would 
have  been  hardly  safe  to  have  excavated  the  rock  to  any  greater 
extent.  The  lowest  corridors  are  frequently  below  the  level  of  the 
valleys,  and  there  may  have  been  originally  passages  from  one  to  the 
other,  so  that  one  entrance  to  S.  Calixtus  may  have  been  through 
S.  Sebastian’s.  The  peculiarly  dry  and  drying  nature  of  the  sandstone, 
or  tufa  rock,  in  which  these  tombs  are  excavated,  made  them  admi¬ 
rably  calculated  for  the  purpose.  These  Catacombs  were  the  public 
cemeteries  of  Christian  Rome  for  several  centuries,  and  it  would  have 
been  well  for  the  health  of  the  city  if  they  could  always  have  con¬ 
tinued  so.  Unfortunately  after  the  siege  of  Rome  by  the  Goths,  in 
the  time  of  Justinian,  when  some  of  the  catacombs  were  rifled  of 
their  contents,  the  use  of  these  excellent  burying-places  was  dis¬ 
continued. 

That  the  arenaria  were  considered  as  burying-places  in  the  time 
of  Nero  is  evident  from  his  exclamation  of  horror  at  the  idea  of 
being  taken  there  alive  for  the  purpose  of  concealment h.  The  are- 
fiaria  or  sand-pits  are  also  mentioned  by  Cicero  in  his  Oration 
for  Cluentius,  where  he  says  that  the  young  Asinius,  a  citizen  of 


custom  appears  absolutely  horrible  to 
English  people,  but  habit  had  made  the 
Romans  callous  to  it.  It  has  now  quite 
recently  been  discontinued,  but  this 
custom  of  using  the  pits  was  still  in 


use  in  i860. 

h  “Ibi  hortante  eodem  Phaonte,  ut 
interim  in  specum  egestse  arense  con- 
cederet,  negavit  se  vivurn  sub  terram 
iturum .”  (Suetonius  in  Nerone,  c.  48.) 


IV.] 


Construction. 


4i 


noble  family,  was  inveigled  into  one  of  them  and  murdered.  This 
shews  they  were  in  use  before  the  Christian  era,  and  there  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  they  have  been  in  use  ever  since  lime- 
mortar  came  into  use,  which  is  believed  to  have  been  two  or  three 
centuries  before  that  period.  The  celebrated  Pozzolana  sand 
makes  the  best  mortar  in  the  world,  from  its  gritty  nature \  This 
valuable  sand  is  found  to  any  extent  nearly  all  over  the  Campagna 
of  Rome,  in  horizontal  beds  or  layers  between  the  beds  of  tufa  •  some 
of  the  tufa  itself,  which  is  sandstone,  may  be  scraped  into  this  sand, 
but  it  is  easier  to  take  it  as  ready  provided  by  nature.  People  once 
accustomed  to  the  use  of  this  sand  cannot  do  without  it,  and  hun¬ 
dreds  of  carts  filled  with  it  may  be  seen  daily  traversing  the  Cam¬ 
pagna,  conveying  it  either  to  Rome,  or  to  Ostia,  or  to  Porto,  for  ex¬ 
portation.  The  horizontal  layers  or  beds  of  this  sand  are  not  usually 
more  than  six  feet  thick,  although  they  extend  at  a  certain  level  over 
the  whole  surface  of  the  country.  It  is  therefore  excavated  in  hori¬ 
zontal  corridors,  with  various  branches,  extending  for  many  miles,  un¬ 
dermining  the  whole  surface  of  the  soil,  but  not  in  large  or  deep  pits, 
so  that  the  name  of  sand-pit  is  rather  deceitful  to  English  people, 
who  commonly  imagine  it  to  be  always  a  large  and  deep  pit  to 
which  these  roads  lead  only ;  this  is  not  always  the  case,  the  roads 
themselves  being  excavated  in  the  layer  of  sand,  and  frequently 
themselves  the  sand-pits.  Sometimes  there  are  different  layers  of 
sand  at  different  levels,  and  in  some  cases  there  may  be  two  sand¬ 
pit  roads  one  over  the  other,  with  the  bed  of  hard  tufa  between  them. 

We  are  told  in  the  Acta  Sanctorum  that  one  of  the  punishments 
inflicted  on  the  Christians  by  the  Emperor  Maximinus  in  the  sixth 
persecution,  a.d.  235,  was  digging  sand  and  stone.  The  martyrs 
Ciriacus  and  Sisinnus  are  especially  mentioned  as  ordered  to  be 
strictly  guarded,  and  compelled  to  dig  sand  and  to  carry  it  on  their 
own  shoulders. 

Some  of  the  catacombs  were  evidently  made  under  tombs  by  the 
side  of  the  road,  and  in  that  of  S.  Calixtus  there  are  remains  of  the 
tomb  on  the  surface  of  the  ground.  The  burial-chapels  of  the  fourth 
century  commonly  found  over  a  catacomb  probably  replace  earlier 


*  This  grittiness  or  roughness  arises 
from  its  volcanic  origin.  It  has  never 
been  rounded  by  the  action  of  water  as 
river  sand  has,  and,  if  examined  with 
a  microscope,  it  is  seen  to  consist  of 
crystals  with  jagged  edges,  in  the  same 
manner  that  fresh  lime  does  :  therefore 
when  hot  lime,  fresh  burnt,  before  it 


had  absorbed  moisture  from  the  atmos¬ 
phere,  was  mixed  with  this  rough 
sand,  the  expansion  and  crystallization 
of  the  lime  binds  it  together  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  form  an  artificial  con¬ 
crete  stone  as  hard  as  the  hardest  natu¬ 
ral  rock. 


42 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


tombs.  The  church  of  S.  Urban11  is  now  considered  to  have  been  a 
family  tomb  of  the  first  century,  made  into  a  church  long  afterwards. 

Many  inscriptions  are  preserved  relating  to  the  preservation  of 
a  tomb  with  the  land  belonging  to  it  in  perpetuity,  and  they  fre¬ 
quently  mention  the  number  of  feet  along  the  road  and  in  the  field. 
Their  size  varies  enormously.  Horace  mentions  one  that  was  1,000  ft. 
by  300  ft.  The  inscription  of  one  dug  up  in  the  Via  Labicana  gives 
1,800 ft.  by  500  ft.  ;  another  was  only  24ft.  by  15  ft.,  and  another  16  ft. 
square.  In  the  case  of  one  of  the  larger  tombs  belonging  to  a  family 
that  became  Christian,  it  was  easy  for  them  to  make  a  catacomb 
under  it  and  allow  their  fellow-Christians  to  be  buried  there,  or  to 
sell  portions  of  the  large  space  for  separate  vaults.  Many  vaults  of 
16  ft.  square  might  be  made  in  the  space  of  1,800  ft.  long  by  500  ft. 
wide,  as  the  one  on  the  Via  Labicana.  If  the  adjoining  field  belonged 
to  the  same  family,  the  catacomb  might  be  extended  as  far  as  the 
family  property  itself  extended.  This  is  the  most  probable  explana¬ 
tion  of  the  pradium  of  the  Lady  Lucina  and  other  Christian  martyrs. 
They  were  heiresses  to  whom  such  a  tomb  and  meadow  belonged. 
When  the  space  was  limited,  three  or  four  stories  were  excavated  in 
succession,  one  under  the  other,  as  we  see  in  many  instances. 

The  measurements  of  Michele  de  Rossi  coincide  with  this  in 
a  remarkable  manner.  He  finds  the  area  of  each  separate  cata¬ 
comb  to  be  respectively  100, 125,  150,  180,  and  250  ft.  None  of  these 
spaces  are  at  all  too  large  for  the  area  commonly  left  round  a  tomb 
of  importance,  and  the  family  property  of  this  area  would  extend  to 
any  depth.  Each  cemetery  was  complete  in  itself,  but  sometimes 
connected  with  others  by  subterranean  roads. 

These  tombs  were  protected  by  special  laws,  and  the  area  in  which 
the  tomb  stood  was  included  with  it.  The  area  was  often  of  con¬ 
siderable  extent,  and  was  intended  for  the  burial-place  of  succeed¬ 
ing  generations  of  the  family  to  whom  it  belonged.  The  tombs  of 
the  period  of  the  early  empire  were  by  no  means  exclusively  for 
the  columbaria  for  cinerary  urns.  The  instances  in  which  there 
are  both  places  for  bodies  and  urns  are  perhaps  more  numerous 
thapr'  those  for  urns  only.  The  fine  sarcophagi  now  found  in  museums, 
or  applied  to  all  sorts  of  uses,  as  water-troughs,  vases  for  flowers, 
and  various  other  purposes,  were  all  originally  in  tombs,  and  gene¬ 
rally  in  tombs  in  which  there  were  also  columbaria  for  cinerary  urns. 
Some  pagan  tombs  on  the  Via  Latina  have  catacombs  for  the  inter¬ 
ment  of  bodies  under  them.  The  custom  of  burning  the  bodies  was 
never  universal,  and  lasted  only  for  a  certain  period ;  the  custom  of 

k  See  p.  69,  and  chap.  iv.  sect.  2. 


IV.] 


Construction. 


43 


burying  the  bodies  came  in  again  soon  after  the  Christian  era,  and 
probably  was  influenced  by  the  strong  feeling  which  sprung  up  among 
the  Christians  on  this  subject.  The  sumptuous  painted  chambers  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  tombs  of  the  first  and  second  centuries  on  the 
Via  Latina,  were  evidently  imitated  by  the  poor  in  the  catacombs  in 
the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  and  later ;  but  there  is  no  evidence  of 
any  Scriptural  or  religious  subjects  for  paintings  before  the  time  of 
Constantine.  The  character  of  the  paintings  is  almost  universally 
later,  and  the  few  that  are  early  are  not  Christian  nor  Scriptural. 

It  might  very  well  happen  that  some  members  of  the  family  were 
Christians  and  others  were  not,  and  this  would  account  for  the  mix¬ 
ture  of  Pagan  tombs  with  Christian  ones  in  the  same  catacombs. 
The  subterranean  sand-pit  roads  frequently  run  parallel  to  the  high 
roads  at  a  little  distance  from  them,  and  such  a  road  passing  at  the 
back  of  the  subterranean  cemetery  or  catacomb  would  be  very  con¬ 
venient  to  the  Christians  in  time  of  persecution.  The  part  of  these 
roads  which  came  within  the  limits  of  the  cemetery  would  naturally 
be  used  for  burial-places  also,  as  we  see  that  they  were  distinctly  in 
the  case  of  S.  Hermes,  and  nearly  with  equal  certainty  in  other 
cases.  In  ordinary  times,  there  was  no  necessity  for  secrecy.  The 
bodies  of  Christian  martyrs  were  given  up  for  the  purpose  of  burial 
to  those  who  applied  for  them  ’. 

The  catacomb  of  SS.  Saturninus  and  Thraso,  the  entrance 
to  which  is  in  the  gardens  of  the  Villa  Gangalani,  about  a  mile 
from  Rome,  on  the  Via  Salaria,  is  stated  in  a  bull  of  Pope 
Nicholas  IV.,  a.d.  1290,  to  have  formed  part  of  the  great  cata¬ 
comb  of  S.  Priscilla,  the  entrance  to  which  is  about  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  farther  from  Rome  on  the  same  road.  On  descending  into 
that  of  S.  Saturninus  by  a  steep  flight  of  steps  of  modern  appearance, 
but  perhaps  restored  onlym,  we  soon  pass  under  the  road  and  hear 
carriages  passing  over  head  ;  we  then  continue  to  descend  to  the 
depth  of  about  fifty  feet,  divided  into  five  corridors,  only  four  of 
which  can  at  present  be  seen ;  but  we  pass  the  entrance  to  the  fifth 
on  one  of  the  staircases,  and  see  the  opening  to  it.  The  two  lower 


1  “Si  quis  in  insulam  deportatus  vel 
relegatus  fuerit,  poena  etiam  post  mor¬ 
tem  manet :  nec  licet  eum  inde  trans- 
ferre  alicubi,  et  sepelire  inconsulto  prin- 
cipe  :  ut  ssepissime  Severus  et  Antoninus 
rescripserunt,  et  multis  petentibus  hoc 
ipsum  indulserunt. ”  (Digest.,  lib.  xlviii. 
tit.  24,  art.  2.) 

The  Roman  laws  applied  to  the 
whole  Roman  Empire,  and  this  explains 
the  text  respecting  the  giving  up  of  the 


body  of  Christ  to  Joseph  of  Arimathea 
for  burial. 

m  Staircases  to  descend  into  the  Cata¬ 
combs  were  made  by  Damasus  in  the 
fourth  century,  some  of  them  covered 
with  marble  slabs  ;  these  are  evidently 
not  original  entrances,  but  insertions, 
and  some  of  the  old  tombs  are  de¬ 
stroyed  in  making  these  new  stair¬ 
cases  for  the  use  of  the  pilgrims. 


44 


Catacombs . 


[SECT. 


corridors  of  this  catacomb  have  tombs  or  cubicula  on  the  sides  ; 
a  few  of  these  are  painted,  and  the  vault  of  the  corridor  in  front 
of  them  also.  All  these  paintings  seem  to  be  of  the  fourth  century, 
or  later. 

The  sandstone  in  which  this  catacomb  is  made  is  more  than 
usually  hard,  for  which  reason  apparently  there  are  only  three  of  the 
side  chapels  for  family  burying-places,  and  few  of  the  arched  tombs  ; 
most  of  the  recesses  for  graves  are  merely  parallelograms  just  large 
enough  to  contain  the  body,  or  two  bodies  side  by  side,  one  behind 
the  other,  the  recess  being  excavated  to  a  sufficient  depth  for  that 
purpose,  and  some  of  these  have  the  slabs  covering  the  openings 
left  in  their  places.  The  skeletons  are  allowed  to  remain  in  several 
of  the  tombs  where  the  slab  has  been  removed  and  left  open.  One 
of  the  chapels  has  remains  of  paintings  of  the  fourth  century  in 
a  very  decayed  state.  The  other  two  chapels  are  connected  by 
a  short  passage ;  they  have  evidently  been  family  burying-places,  a 
second  added  when  the  first  was  full.  The  passage  is  made  through 
the  principal  tomb  of  the  first  chapel,  the  body  previously  interred 
there  was  probably  removed  to  the  inner  chapel  when  that  was 
made.  The  painted  chapel  is  in  the  upper  corridor,  the  double 
one  in  the  lowest. 

In  descending  from  the  garden,  the  two  upper  corridors  have 
tombs  on  the  sides,  and  are  regular  catacombs ;  the  third  is  an 
arenarium ,  or  sand-pit,  without  tombs,  and  large  enough  for  a  horse 
and  cart  to  pass  along,  as  in  the  ordinary  sand-pits.  There  must 
have  been  another  entrance  to  this,  and  it  is  said  to  have  been  half- 
a-mile  off,  which  is  not  improbable,  judging  by  other  sand-pits,  both 
those  now  in  use  and  others  that  are  closed,  some  of  which  are  known 
to  be  more  than  a  mile  long;  and  with  the  different  branch  gal¬ 
leries,  the  corridors  altogether  often  extend  several  miles.  These 
galleries  are  large  and  wide  enough  for  a  horse  and  cart,  but  not 
for  two  to  pass,  sidings  being  made  at  intervals  for  that  purpose. 
The  passages  in  the  Catacombs  vary  much  both  in  height  and  in 
width,  but  are  seldom  more  than  three  feet  wide.  The  chapels  also 
vary  in  size,  but  none  of  them  would  hold  more  than  fifty  people ; 
those  in  the  present  catacomb  are  small. 

That  each  of  these  chapels  was  the  burial-place  of  a  family,  and 
was  considered  as  private  property,  is  evident  from  the  remains  of 
a  door  at  the  entrance  of  several  of  them,  as  in  the  catacomb  of 
S.  Priscilla.  In  one  of  these,  the  stone  corbel,  with  the  hole  for  the 
pivot  to  work  in,  remains  in  its  place ;  the  lower  stone,  with  the 
corresponding  hole,  has  been  moved,  but  is  lying  on  the  floor  in  an 
adjoining  chapel.  Another  door  has  been  made  to  slide  up  and  down 


IV.] 


Construction. 


45 


like  a  portcullis  or  a  modern  sash-window,  as  we  see  by  the  groove 
remaining  on  both  sides.  This  is  close  to  a  luminaria ,  or  well  for 
admitting  light  and  air ;  and  it  seems  quite  possible  that  it  really  was 
a  window,  or  that  the  upper  part  was  made  to  slide  down  to  admit 
the  light  and  air  from  the  luminaria.  If  this  was  the  burial-place  of 
Priscilla,  the  paintings  were  probably  renewed  in  the  restoration  by 
John  I.,  a.d.  523.  The  lower  part  of  the  wall  is  faced  with  stucco 
panelled  with  oblong  panels,  coloured  in  imitation  of  different  kinds 
of  marble ;  the  stucco  is  about  an  inch  thick,  like  slabs  of  marble, 
and  the  divisions  between  the  panels  are  sunk  to  that  depth,  as  if 
each  panel  had  been  painted  before  it  was  placed  and  fixed  to  the 
wall  like  marble  slabs.  There  are  some  long  narrow  slips  of  white 
stucco  lying  about,  which  seem  to  have  been  fitted  into  the  hollow 
grooves  between  the  slabs.  The  vaults  in  this  catacomb  are  in 
many  parts  supported  by  brick  arches ;  in  one  place,  at  a  crossing, 
are  four  small  low  brick  arches,  the  character  of  which  agrees  with 
the  period  of  the  restoration  in  the  sixth  century ;  the  mortar  be¬ 
tween  the  bricks  or  tiles  is  about  the  same  thickness  as  the  tiles 
themselves,  which  are  rather  more  than  an  inch  thick,  so  that  there 
are  five  tiles  to  a  foot,  including  the  mortar  between  them.  These 
brick  arches  are  not  subsequent  repairs,  but  part  of  the  original 
construction  to  carry  the  vault.  The  aretiarium ,  or  sand-pit  gallery, 
through  which  the  present  entrance  is  made,  has  evidently  been 
used  as  a  subterranean  road.  A  branch  of  an  aqueduct  running 
along  the  side  of  this,  is  part  of  an  extensive  system  of  irrigation 
carried  on  throughout  all  this  district,  the  water  having  been  brought 
from  the  Aqua  Virgo,  which  passed  in  this  direction  n.  It  was 
probably  part  of  the  original  line  of  the  Aqueduct,  which  has  been 
altered  in  the  portion  near  to  Rome ;  this  has  not  been  traced  out 
to  any  considerable  extent,  but  Signor  de  Rossi  has  found  many 
remains  and  indications  of  it.  The  sand-pit  roads,  or  arenatia ,  ran 
for  miles  parallel  to  the  high  roads,  and  were  probably  used  by  the 
carters  in  preference  to  the  open  roads  in  hot  weather,  as  they  are 
always  cool  °. 


"  See  the  Chapter  on  the  Aqueducts. 

0  The  number  of  instances  in  which 
arenaria  are  mentioned  in  the  Ponti¬ 
fical  Registers  and  in  the  Acts  of  the 
Martyrs  as  burial-places  of  the  early 
Christians,  seem  quite  conclusive  on  the 
point,  although  the  modern  Pontifical 
authorities  will  not  admit  this.  There  is 
scarcely  one  of  the  catacombs  that  has 
not  either  a  sand-pit  in  some  part  of  it, 
or  a  sand-pit  road  connected  with  it. 


This  was  remarkably  the  case  in  that 
of  S.  Generosa,  excavated  by  the  Ger¬ 
mans  in  1868.  The  sand-pit  and  the 
road  to  it  were  found  at  tire  end  furthest 
from  the  present  entrance.  The  re¬ 
markable  instance  of  this  in  S.  Agnes, 
and  the  tradition  of  the  monastery  re¬ 
specting  it,  has  been  already  mentioned. 
The  arenarium,  or  sand-pit  in  S.  Ca- 
lixtus,  is  described  in  the  great  work 
of  De  Rossi. 


4  6 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


In  the  admirable  essay  of  Signor  Michele  Stefano  de  Rossi  on  the 
construction  of  the  catacomb  of  S.  Calixtus  p,  he  shews  the  manner  in 
which  the  staircases  have  been  introduced  at  a  subsequent  period  for 
the  use  of  the  pilgrims ;  that  in  some  instances  the  lower  part  of  the 
stairs  has  been  cut  away  for  security,  to  prevent  the  intrusion  of  the 
persecutors  at  some  period  of  persecution  after  the  staircase  was 
built,  and  that  was  after  the  catacomb  had  been  some  time  in  use, 
for  many  loculi  or  graves  in  the  walls  were  cut  through  in  making  the 
staircase.  This  last  alteration,  the  cutting  off  the  lower  part  of  the 
staircase,  was  probably  made  at  the  time  of  the  persecution  under 
Julian  [a.d.  362].  The  fossores  had  learnt  by  the  experience  of 
their  youth,  or  of  their  fathers  in  the  time  of  Diocletian  [a.d.  300], 
the  necessity  for  these  precautions.  The  following  extract  from 
Dr.Northcote’s  translation  will  explain  this  matter  more  clearly  than 
other  words  would  be  likely  to  do  : — 

“The  entrance  to  this  gallery,  cut  through  so  many  loculi,  shews  the  damage 
done  to  the  sepulchres  in  its  formation,  although  a  point  was  chosen  with  special 
care  that  the  damage  might  be  as  small  as  possible.  .  .  .  From  the  entrance  to  the 
bottom  of  the  flight,  the  steps  are  well  preserved  and  covered  with  slabs  of  terra 
cotta.  The  ambulacrum  (or  walk)  itself  is  paved  with  large  tiles,  all  of  which 
bear  this  stamp,  opvs  doliare  ex  praediis  domini  n[ostri]  et  figl  novis  : 
that  is,  according  to  Marini,  from  the  imperial  manufactory  of  Marcus  Aurelius 
[a.d.  161 — 180],  probably  used  again  as  old  materials.  As  we  approach  the  en¬ 
trance  to  this  gallery,  communicating  with  the  arenarium,  we  notice  that  the  wall 
on  either  side  of  the  entrance  is  sustained  by  masonry  of  tufa  (the  natural  soil  or 
rock)  and  brickwork,  and  that  the  entrance  itself  has  been  cut  through  some  of 
the  loculi,  an  evident  proof  of  its  having  been  made  at  a  later  period  than  the 
ambulacrum.  The  masonry,  however,  does  not  reach  the  present  roof,  because 
at  the  time  that  it  was  built  the  roof  had  not  been  raised  to  its  present  elevation 
by  the  excavation  of  the  small  (upper)  gallery  1.  ” 


Over  the  door  of  another  chamber  an  inscription  of  the  year  290 
was  found r. 

The  catacomb  of  S.  Cyriaca,  adjoining  to  the  great  modern  burial- 
ground  of  S.  Lorenzo,  affords  at  the  present  time  an  admirable 
opportunity  for  studying  the  construction  of  a  catacomb  in  a  natural 
section  of  it. 


p  “Analysis  of  the  Cemetery  of  St. 
Calixtus,”  forming  chapter  iii.  book  v. 
of  the  work  of  Dr.  Northcote  and  Mr. 
Brownlow,  pp.  360 — 377,  translated 
from  the  great  work  of  the  Commen- 
datore  G.  B.  de  Rossi,  but  written  by 
his  brother  Michele  Stefano  de  Rossi ; 
it  is  the  result  of  many  years’  experience 
and  careful  observation. 


q  Northcote  and  Brownlow,  Roma 
Sotteranea,  &c.,  p.  366. 

r  VIBIV  .  FIMVS  .  R.  VII  KA  SEP 
DIO  .  IIII.  ET  .  MAX.  COS. 

Vibius  Fimus  died  ( recessit )  August  26, 
when  Diocletian,  for  the  fourth  time, 
and  Maximinus  were  consuls.  (Ibid., 
P-  374-) 


IV.] 


Paintings. 


47 


Paintings. 

If  the  tombs  of  the  early  martyrs,  before  “  the  peace  of  the  Church,” 
were  commonly  decorated  with  paintings  at  all,  which  is  not  pro¬ 
bable,  it  is  almost  certain  that  those  paintings  have  been  renewed 
at  various  subsequent  periods.  The  only  monuments  of  the  first 
three  centuries  are  the  tombstones  with  inscriptions  and  small 
simple  emblems  incised  upon  them. 

It  is  difficult  to  decide  by  the  art  of  drawing  only  between  the 
end  of  the  third  and  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century.  But 
this  art  was  in  the  height  of  perfection  in  the  first  century,  in 
the  second  it  was  still  very  good,  in  the  third  it  had  begun  to 
decline,  but  not  so  rapidly  as  to  justify  the  assumption  that  the 
very  bad  drawings  in  the  Catacombs  belong  to  that  period,  with 
the  exception  of  those  already  mentioned  as  not  Christian.  The 
drawing  of  the  figures  in  the  mosaic  pictures  in  the  vault  of  S.  Con- 
stantia,  which  are  of  the  first  half  of  the  fourth  century,  are  de¬ 
cidedly  better  than  any  of  the  Scriptural  subjects  in  the  Catacombs. 
The  mosaic  pictures  of  the  fifth  century  on  the  sides  of  the  nave 
of  S.  Maria  Maggiore,  published  by  Ciampini,  are  much  more 
like  them. 

S.  Paulinus,  bishop  of  Nola,  writing  in  the  fifth  century,  says  that 
he  had  painted  a  catacomb,  (or  a  cubiculum,)  for  the  pilgrims ,  and 
gives  his  reasons  for  doing  so8.  He  thought  good  to  enliven  the 
whole  temple  of  S.  Felix,  in  order  that  these  coloured  representations 
might  arrest  the  attention  of  the  rustics*,  and  prevent  their  drinking 
too  much  at  the  feasts.  The  temple  here  evidently  means  the  tomb 
or  crypt  in  which  the  commemorative  feasts  were  held,  and  were 
represented  by  paintings.  His  expressions  imply  that  such  paintings 
were  not  then  a  received  custom. 

That  the  painted  vaults  in  the  Catacombs  were  used  for  feasts  on 
various  occasions  in  the  same  manner  as  the  painted  chambers  in 
the  Pagan  tombs,  is  evident  from  the  manner  in  which  several 


*  S.  Paulini  poema  xxvi.  De  S.  Felice 
Natal,  carmen  ix.,  ver.  51 1  ;  et  poema 
xxvii.,  carm.  ix.,  ver.  22,  sqq.  Those 
two  poems  were  written  a.d.  402  and 
403.  See  S.  Pontii  Meropii  Paulini .  .  . 
Nolani  episcopi,  Opera,  &c.  Veronse, 
1736,  folio,  p.  lxxiv.,  641,  646. 

*  This  was  the  constant  practice  in 
the  Middle  Ages.  In  the  ballad  “que 


Villon  feit  a  la  requeste  de  sa  mere, 
pour  prier  Nostre-Dame,”  she  says  : 
“Femme  je  suis  povrette  et  ancienne, 
Ne  riens  ne  s£ay  :  oncques  lettre  ne 
leuz ; 

Au  moustier  voys  dont  suis  parrois- 
sienne, 

Paradis  painct  oil  sont  harpes  et  luz, 
Et  ung  enfer,  oil  damnes  sont  boulluz.  ” 


48 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


writers  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  mention  them ;  in  addition 
to  the  letters  of  Paulinus  of  Nola  and  S.  Augustine,  and  the  hymns 
of  Prudentius,  there  is  also  a  remarkable  passage  in  a  sermon  of 
Theodoret  on  the  Martyrs  (written  about  a.d.  450)  : — 

“  Our  Lord  God  leads  His  own  even  after  death  into  the  temples  for  your  Gods, 
and  renders  them  vain  and  empty  ;  but  to  these  [Martyrs]  He  renders  the  honours 
previously  paid  to  them.  For  your  daily  food  and  your  sacred  and  other  feasts  of 
Peter,  Paul,  and  Thomas,  and  Sergius,  and  Marcellinus,  and  Leontius,  and  Anto¬ 
ninus,  and  Mauricius,  and  other  martyrs,  the  solemnities  are  performed ;  and  in 
place  of  the  old  base  pomp  and  obscene  words  and  acts,  their  modest  festivities  are 
celebrated,  not  with  drunkenness  and  obscene  and  ludicrous  exhibitions,  but  with 
hearing  divine  songs  and  holy  sermons,  and  prayers  and  praises  adorned  with  tears. 
When,  therefore,  you  would  dilate  on  the  honour  of  the  martyrs,  what  use  is  there 
in  sifting  them  ?  Fly,  my  friends,  the  error  of  demons,  and  under  their  guidance 
seize  upon  the  road  that  leads  to  God,  and  welcome  their  presence  with  holy 
songs,  as  the  way  is  to  eternal  life  u.  ” 


Bosio  enumerates  six  cubicula  or  family  burial -chapels  in  the 
cemetery  or  catacomb  of  Priscilla,  and  thirteen  arched  tombs  with 
paintings.  These  pictures,  of  which  he  gives  engravings,  were  far 
more  perfect  in  his  time  than  they  are  now.  His  engravings  are  good 
for  the  period  when  they  were  executed ;  but  it  was  a  time  when  all 
drawing  was  bad,  slovenly,  and  incorrect,  so  that  the  general  idea 
only  of  the  picture  is  all  we  can  expect.  The  costume  and  ornaments 
do  not  indicate  any  very  early  period  of  art,  but  rather  a  time  when 
it  had  declined  considerably.  Costume  in  Rome,  as  in  the  East 
generally,  was  far  more  stationary  and  less  subject  to  changes  than 
in  the  West,  and  these  may  be  as  early  as  the  fourth  or  fifth  century, 
but  can  hardly  be  earlier.  Several  of  the  martyrs  buried  in  the  Via 
Salaria  suffered  in  the  tenth  persecution  under  Diocletian,  called  the 
great  persecution,  about  the  year  300 :  the  decorations  of  their  tombs, 


u  “.  .  .  .  Ignoscenda  tamen  puto  talia 
parvis 

Gaudia  quee  ducunt  epulis,  quia  men- 
tibus  error 

Irrepit  rudibus  ;  nec  tantae  conscia  culpse 
Simplicitas  pietate  cadit,  male  credula 
Sanctos 

Perfusis  halante  mero  gaudere  sepul- 
cris.  ” 

(De  S.  Felice  Natal,  carmen  ix.  v.  562.) 

“  Suos  enim  mortuos  dominus  Deus 
noster  in  tenipla  pro  diis  vestris  in- 
duxit,  ac  illos  quidern  cassos  vanosque 
reddidit ;  his  autem  honorem  illorum 
attribuit.  Pro  prandiis  enim  diariisque 
ac  dionysiis,  et  aliis  festis  vestris,  Petri, 
et  Pauli,  et  Thomas,  et  Sergii,  et  Mar- 
celli,  et  Leontii,  et  Panteleemonis,  et 


Antonini,  et  Mauricii,  aliorumque  Mar- 
tyrum  solemnitates  peraguntur,  et  pro 
ilia  veteri  pompa,  turpique  rerum  ac 
verborum  obscenitate,  modestse  celebra- 
bantur  festivitates,  non  ebrietatem,  et 
jocos  risusque  exhibentes,  sed  divina 
cantica,  sacrorumque  sermonum  audi- 
tionem,  et  preces  laudabilibus  lacrymis 
ornatas.  Cum  igitur  ex  honore  Marty- 
ribus  delato,  quid  utilitatis  proveniat 
cernatis,  fugite,  amici,  dsemonum  erro- 
rem ;  prseviaque  illorum  face  atque  ductu, 
viam  capessite  qua?  ad  Deum  perducit, 
ut  in  immortali  sevo  illorum  choris  et 
prsesentia  perfruamini.”  (Theodoreti, 
Episc.  Cyrens. ,  Opera,  tomus  iv.  Sermo 
viii.  de  Martyribus,  p.  605.  Lutetise 
Parisiorum,  1642,  folio.) 


IV.] 


Paintings. 


49 


therefore,  cannot  be  earlier  than  the  fourth  century,  and  many  of 
them  have  been  restored  or  renewed  at  subsequent  times.  John  I., 
a.d.  523,  is  recorded T  to  have  renewed  the  cemetery  of  Priscilla,  and 
this  probably  means  that  he  renewed  the  paintings  in  the  style  of 
his  own  time,  as  the  greater  part  of  the  paintings  now  remaining 
are  of  the  character  of  that  period. 

On  comparing  the  costumes  of  the  figures  in  this  catacomb  with 
those  in  the  illuminations  of  the  celebrated  manuscript  of  Terence, 
usually  attributed  to  the  seventh  or  eighth  century,  and  which  can 
hardly  be  earlier  than  the  fifth,  we  see  at  once  that  the  long  flowing 
robe  was  the  ordinary  costume  of  the  period,  and  that  the  narrow 
scarf  of  black  ribbon  hanging  over  the  shoulders,  with  the  ends 
reaching  nearly  to  the  ground,  was  the  usual  badge  of  a  servant. 
This  seems  to  have  been  adopted  as  part  of  the  costume  of  a  Chris¬ 
tian  going  to  pray  to  God,  whether  in  a  church  or  chapel  or  any 
other  place,  emblematical  of  the  yoke  of  Christ,  as  Durandus  says. 
The  surplice  and  stole  of  the  priest  of  the  Anglican  Church  is  a 
more  close  copy  of  this  ancient  costume  than  any  now  worn  in  the 
Roman  Church.  The  rich  cope,  cape,  or  cloak  was  the  dress  of 
the  Roman  senator  and  of  the  Pagan  priests;  it  was  probably 
adopted  by  the  Bishop  of  Rome  when  he  assumed  the  title  and  office 
of  Pontifex  Maximus,  and  after  a  time  the  custom  was  followed 
by  other  bishops  and  priests  of  his  communion  w. 

T  See  the  Pontifical  Registers  published  by  Anastasius,  quoted  in  our  Section 
on  the  Chronology  of  the  Catacombs,  p.  21. 


50 


Catacombs. 


[sect. 


Glass  Vases. 


A  valuable  work  on  the  ancient  glass  Vases  found  in  the  Cata¬ 
combs  was  published  by  F.  Buonarotti*  in  Florence,  nearly  simul¬ 
taneously  with  the  work  of  Boldetti  on  the  Catacombs,  and  of  Fa- 
bretti  on  the  Inscriptions  found  in  them.  This  is  the  foundation 
of  all  the  subsequent  works  on  the  subject;  the  figures  are  badly 
drawn  and  engraved,  according  to  the  fashion  of  the  period,  but 
many  of  the  later  works  are  not  much  better.  The  subjects  are  gene¬ 
rally  the  same  as  in  the  paintings  on  the  walls  :  the  Good  Shepherd, 
more  numerous  than  any  other ;  Adam  and  Eve,  Moses  striking  the 
rock,  Noah  and  the  Ark,  the  raising  of  Lazarus,  Peter  and  Paul,  gene¬ 
rally  busts, — these  are  very  numerous.  Both  the  style  of  drawing 
and  the  character  of  the  inscriptions  indicate  late  dates  and  frequent 
copying  from  the  same  type.  In  one  are  three  figures,  S.  Peter, 
S.  Paul,  with  S.  Laurence,  seated  between  them. — S.  Agnes  occurs 
frequently,  always  drawn  as  in  the  usual  type  of  the  eighth  century. 
Other  busts  are  evidently  portraits  of  persons  interred.  In  some  are 
the  father,  mother,  and  child ; — one  has  the  name  of  Cerontius  ;  an¬ 
other  of  two  busts,  Cericia  and  Sottacus  ; — another  is  a  family  group, 
father,  mother,  and  four  children  ;  the  name  is  partly  broken  off  ...  . 
N  .  .  .  bvsvistris.  p.  z.  remains. — Abraham  with  a  drawn  sword  in  his 
hand,  and  Isaac  with  his  eyes  bound,  kneeling  at  his  feet,  with  the 
ram.  This  subject  is  taken  as  an  emblem  of  Christ,  as  shewn  by  the 
inscription — zeses  cvm  tvis  spes  hilaris. — A  tall  female  figure  with 
the  hands  uplifted  in  prayer ;  the  inscription  is  petrvs  pavlvs  ane, 
possibly  for  Agnes. — Another  similar  subject  consists  of  two  figures 
seated  facing  each  other  ;  over  the  left  hand  figure  the  name  cristvs, 
over  the  right  hand  one  istefanvs. — Several  of  the  subjects  are  dis¬ 
tinctly  Pagan ;  others  are  evidently  from  the  Jews’  catacomb,  as  two 
lions  guarding  the  ark,  and  under  them  two  of  the  seven-branched 
candlesticks,  with  leaves  and  vases  and  palm-branch,  and  this  in¬ 
scription— anastas  .  iriezesvs7;  the  whole  in  an  engrailed  border 
of  late  character. 

The  foot  of  a  glass  vase,  found  in  the  catacomb  of  S.  Calixtus  in 
1715,  was  engraved  by  Boldetti,  and  in  the  work  of  Garrucci*  on  the 


x  “  Osservazioni  sopra  alcuni  fram- 
menti  di  Vasi  antichi  di  vetro,  ornati  di 
figure,  trovati  ne’  Cimiterj  di  Roma,  per 
Filippo  Buonarotti.”  Fol.  min.  Firenze, 
1716. 

y  Iriezesvs.  Buonarotti  should  have 
endeavoured  to  make  out  this  word, 


which  seems  to  be  cut  in  two  :  [K]irie 
Zesvs,  Lord  Jesus. 

2  “  Vetri  ornati  di  figure  in  oro  trovati 
nei  cimiteri  Cristiani  di  Roma,  raccolti 
e  spiegati  da  Raffaele  Garrucci.”  Roma, 
1858,  fol.  [Editio  secunda,  1864]  plate 
I,  fig.  I. 


IV.] 


Glass  Vases. 


5i 


ancient  glass  vessels  found  in  the  Catacombs.  It  was  presented  to  the 
Pope  Clement  XI.,  and  is  now  in  the  Kircherian  Museum.  In  a  circular 
panel  in  the  centre  is  a  bust  clothed  in  the  toga  and  the  l<zna .  Round 
this  figure  is  the  word  Zesns,  which  is  considered  by  Boldetti  and 
Aringhi  to  be  the  same  as  Jesus  ;  but  Father  Garrucci  considers  the 
costume  as  fatal  to  this  interpretation a.  In  the  outer  circle  are  figures 
and.  groups  of  Scripture  characters  and  events,  two  from  the  Old 
Testament  prophecies  of  Christ :  1.  The  three  children  in  the  “burn¬ 
ing  fiery  furnace;”  2.  Tobias  with  the  fish.  Two  from  the  New 
Testament,  representing  His  miracles  :  1.  The  restoring  the  paralytic, 
who  is  represented  carrying  his  bed  ;  2.  The  marriage  of  Cana,  with 
the  wine-pots.  Christ  Himself  is  here  represented  with  the  rod  of 
power  in  His  hand. 

On  another  vase,  engraved  in  Garrucci’s  work,  plate  viii.  fig.  17,  the 
subject  is  the  miracle  of  the  loaves.  Christ  is  represented  standing  in 
a  tunic,,  with  a  nimbus  round  His  head,  and  a  scroll  or  roll  of  parch¬ 
ment  in  His  left  hand,  surrounded  by  the  seven  baskets  full  of  the 
fragments ;  over  His  head  and  round  the  edge  are  the  words  cristvs 
zesvs.  This  shews  that  these  glasses  are  work  of  a  low  period  of  art 
and  of  ignorant  workmen,  who  used  the  Z  and  the  J  indifferently, 
probably  writing  from  ear,  and  the  pronunciation  being  the  same;  or 
the  workmen  may  have  been  Byzantine  Greeks,  who  were  numerous 
in  Rome  in  the  seventh,  eighth,  and  ninth  centuries,  and  probably 
at  an  earlier  period  also. 

Another  vase  from  this  catacomb  is  published  by  Garrucci,  plate 
xxxiii.  fig.  1.  This  was  found  by  Boldetti  either  in  S.  Calixtus  or 
in  Prsetextatus,  in  1 7 1 8.  On  it  is  a  picture  of  the  table  of  the  money¬ 
changers,  with  money  upon  it ;  there  are  two  figures,  one  of  whom 
has  the  corner  of  the  table  in  his  hand,  and  seems  in  the  act  of 
upsetting  it,  the  other  is  looking  on  as  if  astonished.  On  the  right 
is  a  small  ark  or  chest,  with  two  money-bags  under  it,  having  the 
numbers  cccxx.  and  cclv.  upon  them,  as  if  for  the  .contents  of 
each.  Under  the  picture  is  the  word  sacvlv,  and  on  the  left  hand 
bis  .  an  .  DREScp  ;  the  right-hand  side  is  broken  away,  and  that 
part  of  the  inscription  is  not  preserved.  This  vase  is  conjectured 
by  Boldetti  to  have  belonged  to  the  tombs  of  two  persons  employed 
in  the  Mint,  to  whom  the  name  of  Collibistce  is  supposed  to  apply, 
and  the  letters  Co  to  have  been  the  two  first  letters  of  that  word ; 
the  inscription  under  the  picture,  sacvlv,  is  supposed  to  relate  to 

a  It  seems  far  more  probable  that  no  that  the  central  figure  of  this  group 
particular  costume  was  appropriated  to  can  possibly  be  intended  for  any  one 
Christ  or  the  Apostles  at  the  period  but  Christ, 
when  these  glasses  were  made,  than 

E  2 


52 


Catacombs. 


[sect. 


the  money-bags  or  sacks.  It  seems  more  probable  that  the  subject 
intended  is  Christ  upsetting  the  tables  of  the  money-changers  in  the 
temple,  and  that  the  word  sacvlv  is  a  contraction  of  SANCTVARiVM(?)b. 
The  character  of  the  work  is  late,  probably  of  the  eighth  century. 

Another  foot  of  a  vase  from  this  catacomb,  (plate  xi.  fig.  3,) 
has  figures  of  petrvs  and  savlvs,  and  the  monogram  of  Constan¬ 
tine  on  the  top  of  a  post  or  the  stem  of  a  tree,  adorned  with  gems 
between  them.  Their  names  are  written  down  the  sides,  but  not 
vertically ;  each  holds  his  roll,  or  the  volume  of  his  epistle,  in  his 
hand,  and  there  is  another  volume  by  the  side  of  S.  Peter.  The 
costumes  and  drawing  agree  with  the  end  of  the  fourth  century. 
Other  vases  on  the  same  plate  are  evidently  later.  This  glass 
vase  was  found  entire  by  Boldetti  in  the  catacomb  of  S.  Calixtus. 
It  will  be  observed  that  to  S.  Paul  is  given  his  original  name  of 
savlvs.  Both  figures  have  beards,  that  of  S.  Paul  considerably 
longer  than  S.  Peter’s.  The  heads  of  these  two  Apostles  are  very 
usual  on  these  glasses,  and  they  frequently  have  the  monogram  of 
Constantine  between  them ;  in  other  instances,  in  place  of  this  is 
a  circle  with  small  tongues  of  flame  issuing  from  it ;  in  others  a  cres¬ 
cent,  sometimes  a  small  figure  of  Christ  holding  the  crown  of  martyr¬ 
dom  over  each. — On  another  vase  from  this  catacomb  (plate  xvi. 
fig.  5)  are  three  figures,  Christ,  Peter,  and  Paul,  in  conversation. 
This  vase  was  also  found  entire  by  Boldetti  in  this  catacomb,  and 
is  now  in  the  Vatican  Museum®. 

Another  glass  vase  from  this  catacomb  is  published  by  Aringhi, 
vol.  ii.  p.  680,  and  described  by  Boldetti  as  of  extraordinary  size,  with 
a  head  of  Christ  in  the  circular  panel  at  the  foot ;  this  figure  is  repre¬ 
sented  by  Garrucci,  plate  xvii.  fig.  6.  The  Saviour  is  dressed  in  the 
tunic,  and  has  the  pall  over  His  shoulders.  He  has  the  nimbus,  the 
hair  is  cropped  short  in  front,  but  two  long  locks  appear  under  the 
ears,  and  the  chin  is  quite  clean,  without  any  beard ;  the  edge  of  the 
circular  panel  is  engrailed.  All  the  details  seem  to  be  indications  of 
a  late  date,  and  other  vases,  engraved  on  the  same  plate,  seem 
to  be  clearly  of  the  time  of  Pascal  I.  or  Leo  III.,  the  time  when 
this  catacomb  was  restored.  Another  vase  from  the  same  place  is 
engraved  by  Garrucci,  plate  xxii.  fig.  5.  This  was  also  found  by 
Boldetti,  and  published  by  him,  p.  194.  In  this  are  three  figures, 
with  the  names  agnes,  vincentivs,  poltvs,  probably  ipoltvs  for 


b  Perhaps  only  bad  spelling  for  sa- 
cellum,  a  chapel. 

c  “Et  occurrit  ei  SS.  Petrus  et  Paulus, 
credo  quod  pluribus  locis  simul  eos  cum 
illo  pictos  viderent.  .  .  .  Sic  omnino 


errare  meruerunt,  qui  Christum  et  Apo- 
stolos  ejus  non  in  sanctis  codicibus, 
sed  in  pictis  parietibus  qusesierunt.” 
(S.  Augustinus,  de  Consensu  Evangelis- 
tarum,  lib.  i.  c.  10,  §  16.) 


IV.] 


Glass  Vases. 


53 


S.  Hippolytus.  They  have  not  the  nimbus,  but  wear  caps.  S.  Agnes 
is  richly  draped  in  a  long  robe  or  dalmatic,  with  the  embroidered 
stole  or  cipassi  hanging  down  in  front,  over  the  front  of  the  dalmatic, 
but  under  the  Icena  which  hangs  over  her  shoulders  :  this  is  the  par¬ 
ticular  kind  of  pallium  or  pall  appropriated  to  ladies  of  noble  family. 
On  her  neck  is  the  maniaces ,  a  sort  of  necklace  of  large  pearls  or 
beads  ;  her  hands  are  uplifted  in  prayer,  and  her  bare  arms  appear 
out  of  short  sleeves.  These  details  of  costume  agree  with  other 
figures  of  S.  Agnes  on  different  vases,  and  with  the  mosaic  figure  in 
the  church  named  after  her.  All  these  figures  seem  to  be  of  the 
eighth  or  ninth  century. 

Another  vase  from  this  catacomb,  found  by  Boldetti,  and  now 
preserved  in  the  Vatican  Museum,  was  engraved  by  Garrucci  (plate 
xxxviii.  fig.  2).  It  is  only  an  inscription  surrounded  by  a  cornice  or 
crown  of  leaves,  flowers,  and  thorns  ;  the  words  are  : — 

CENA  .  BENANTI  .  ET  .  CLAVDIANI  .  QVI  .  SE  .  CORONABERIN  .  .  .  BIBAN. 

Between  the  two  last  words  are  tongues  of  flame. 

This  is  explained  to  be  merely  secular  and  jovial,  and  numerous 
quotations  from  ancient  authors  are  given  in  illustration,  respecting 
crowns  of  flowers  on  festive  occasions ;  but  it  seems  far  more  pro¬ 
bable  that  this  tomb  was  that  of  two  martyrs,  whose  sorrowing 
friends  rejoiced  in  their  having  obtained  the  crown  of  martyrdom. 

Another  vase,  bearing  a  head  of  a  monk,  with  a  cross  on  the  fore¬ 
head,  and  the  inscription  libernica,  is  pronounced  by  Garrucci  to 
be  spurious. 

Among  other  objects  found  by  Boldetti  in  the  Catacombs  and  en¬ 
graved  by  him  (lib.  ii.  cap.  14),  are  several  torques,  the  usual  orna¬ 
ment  for  a  warrior,  mirrors  for  the  ladies,  pins,  and  combs,  and 
rings ;  most  of  the  latter  have  the  Constantinian  monogram  upon 
them.  Several  have  dice  with  various  emblems  ;  others,  tesserae  with 
various  objects  incised  upon  them,  not  Christian.  Amongst  other 
ornaments  are  a  Gorgon’s  head,  various  fibulae  and  other  articles  of 
dress,  as  in  pagan  tombs. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  at  least  thirty  of  the  vases  published  in 
Garrucci’s  work,  plates  xxx.  to  xlii.,  are  distinctly  pagan,  and  all 
these  are  said  to  have  been  found  in  the  Catacombs  d. 

Many  of  the  glasses  with  gilt  figures  upon  them  appear  to  have 
been  provided  for  the  commemorative  feasts,  as  may  be  seen  by  the 
inscriptions  upon  them,  such  as  “a  mark  of  friendship  drunk,  and  long 
life  to  them  and  theirs.”  “  Life  and  happiness  to  thee  and  thine.” 

d  One  of  the  finest  collections  of  these  glass  vases,  after  that  in  the  Vatican,  is 
now  in  the  British  Museum. 


54 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


Garrucci  gives  several  others  to  the  same  purport.  Some  of  these 
drinking-glasses  are  shewn  by  the  coins  represented  upon  them  to  be 
of  the  third  century,  but  the  generality  are  much  later.  Many  ol 
them  have  pagan  subjects,  as  has  been  mentioned. 

Of  the  glass  vessels  with  gilt  figures  and  inscriptions  upon  them, 
several  from  the  catacombs  of  S.  Cyriaca  and  S.  Hippolytus e  are 
engraved  in  the  works  of  Buonarroti f,  Bottari g,  and  Garrucci h, 
relating  to  different  saints.  Perhaps  the  most  important  of  these 
is  the  one  of  which  the  original  is  preserved  in  the  Museum  of 
Florence,  and  which  has  been  engraved  several  times,  in  the  centre 
of  which  Christ  is  represented  crowning  two  martyrs,  with  the  names 
of  fidelis  and  festa.  The  first  is  dressed  in  the  toga  and  a 
woollen  cloak  or  pallium ,  called  Icena ;  the  second  in  a  toga  and 
pallium ,  also  on  the  hem  of  which  is  sewn  a  large  band  embroidered 
in  gold,  and  over  that  a  necklace. 

Round  this  central  picture  are  six  shafts,  with  labels  bearing  figures 
with  the  names  of  Petrvs,  Pavlvs,  Epolitvs,  Ciprianvs,  Svstvs, 
Lavrentivs. 

Of  these,  SS.  Laurentius  (Laurence),  Epolitus  (or  Hippolytus),  and 
Sustus  (Sixtus  II.),  were  martyrs  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  persecu¬ 
tions  under  Valerian  and  Gallienus,  a.d.  250,  260,  as  recorded  in 
the  Pontifical  Registers  of  Sixtus  II.,  used  by  Anastasius  the  Li¬ 
brarian,  and  in  the  Roman  Martyrology  for  the  sixth,  tenth,  and 
thirteenth  of  August.  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  in  these  cases,  are  com¬ 
monly  mistaken  for  the  apostles,  but  are  in  reality  intended  for  two 
other  martyrs  of  the  same  name  *,  who  were  executed  in  the  same 
persecution,  and  are  commemorated  on  the  third  of  October  with 
four  others,  among  whom  were  probably  Fidelis  and  Festa.  S.  Cy¬ 
prian,  the  celebrated  Bishop  of  Carthage,  was  also  one  of  the  martyrs 
in  that  persecution  on  the  fourteenth  of  September,  but  not  at 
Rome.  S.  Cyriaca  the  widow,  called  also  Domnica,  and  other 
tnartyrs  in  the  same  persecution,  named  Adonis  and  Justin,  are 
also  recorded  to  have  been  interred  herek.  When  the  church  was 


*  For  an  account  ,of  those  from  the 
catacomb  of  S.  Agnes,  see  our  descrip¬ 
tion  of  that  catacomb,  p.  85. 

,  f  See  note  x,  p.  50. 

k  Bottari,  Pitture  e  Sculture  sagre 
estratte  dai  Cimiterj  di  Roma.  Roma, 
1737— 1 754,.  folio,  3  vols. 

"  Garrucci,  as  before  cited,  see  p.  46. 

1  See  also  Fabio  Gori,  Della  Porta  e 
Basilica  di  S,  Lorenzo,  della  Catacomba, 
&c.,  p.  50. 

k  “  Praeter  haec  autem  sanctce  memo¬ 


rise  decessor  meus,  itidern  ad  corpus  S. 
Laurentii  martyris  qusedam  meliorare 
desiderans,  dum  nescitur  ubi  venerabile 
corpus  ipsius  esset  collocatum,  effo- 
ditur  exquirendo,  et  subito  sepulcrum 
ipsius  ignoranter  apertum  est ;  et  ii  qui 
prsesentes  erant  atque  laborabant,  mona- 
chi  et  mansionarii,  quia  corpus  ejusdem 
martyris  viderunt,  quod  quidem  minime 
tangere  prsesumpserunt,  omnes  intra  de¬ 
cern  dies  defuncti  sunt,  ita  ut  nullus 
vitae  superesse  potuisset,  qui  sanctum 


IV.] 


Glass  Vases. 


55 


rebuilt  by  Pelagius  II.  at  the  end  of  the  sixth  century,  his  suc¬ 
cessor,  S.  Gregory,  relates  that  the  body  of  S.  Laurence  was  found 
intact1,  and  worked  miracles. 

As  the  mistake  of  confounding  the  martyrs  Peter  and  Paul,  of 
this  persecution  in  the  third  century,  with  the  two  apostles  of  the 
same  names,  is  a  very  common  one,  it  will  be  as  well  here  to 
collect  other  passages  relating  to  their  true  history,  in  addition  to 
those  already  given. 

The  cemetery  or  catacomb  in  which  this  S.  Peter  is  said  to  have 
baptized  the  converts  in  the  third  century,  is  called  ad  nymphas,. 
a  word  here  used  in  the  sense  of  ‘  the  springs’  or  sources  of  water  m. 
This  catacomb  was  the  one  in  which  the  S.  John  who  was  a  martyr 
with  this  S.  Paul,  or  another  S.  Paul  near  the  same  period,  had  buried 
the  bodies  of  other  martyrs,  “whose  bodies  John  the  priest  collected 
at  night,  and  buried  in  the  month  of  February  (in  the  catacomb  or 
burial-place),  at  the  springs  in  the  Via  Nomentana,  where  Peter  had 
baptized  n.” 


justi  corpus  illius  viderat.”  (S.  Gregorii 
Magni  epist.,  lib.  iv.  ep.  30,  Constan- 
tinae  Augustse. ) 

‘ 1  Posthaec  fecerunt  earn  plumbatis 
atque  scorpionibus  affligi,  usque  dum 
Domino  reddidit  spiritum.  Corpus  mar- 
tyris  sepelierunt  in  agro  Verano  non 
longe  a  corpore  B.  Laurentii,  a  parte 
occidentali,  ibi  in  coemeterio  sursum 
prima  est  Cyriaca  sancta  vidua,  decimo 
Kalendas  Septembris.  ”  (MS.  Cod. 
Vatic.,  quoted  by  Aringhi,  Roma  Sub- 
terranea,  lib.  iv.  c.  16.) 

1  The  custom  of  embalming  the  body 
had  been  learned  from  the  Egyptians 
by  the  Romans,  and  some  of  the  bodies 
of  the  saints  and  martyrs  were  embalmed 
with  spices,  which  gave  out  what  was 
called  “the  odour  of  sanctity”  when 
the  coffins  were  opened  in  the  Middle 
Ages.  Miracles  are  worked  by  faith, 
that  is,  the  faith  of  the  person  in  whom 
the  miracle  is  wrought ;  there  are  ac¬ 
counts  of  miracles  worked  in  India  on 
persons  who  have  faith  in  their  idols, 
as  well  authenticated  as  those  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church. 


m  “Et  cadit  in  patulos  nympha  * 
Aniena  lacus.” 

(Propert.,  lib.  iii.  eleg.  16,  v.  4.) 
Aringhi,  lib.  i.  c.  1 6,  §  7,  mentions 
a  place  named  “ad  Nymphas,”  on  the 
Via  Aurelia.  See  also  the  index  of 
vol.  ii.,  sub  vocib.  Nymphse,  &c.. 

"  “  Quorum  corpora  .  .  .  collegit 
Joannes  presbyter  noctu,  et  sepelivit  in 
Via  Numentana  sub  die  Kal.  februarii 
ad  Nymphas,  ubi  Petrus  baptizabat.’> 
(Aringhi,  lib.  iii.  c.  16.) 

It  was  also  called  after  S.  Hippolytus* 
These  springs  of  water  can  still  (1869). 
be  seen  in  the  vineyard  of  Monsignor 
Gori,  between  the  Via  Nomentana  and 
the  Via  Tiburtina,  where  this  catacomb 
is  situated.  This  site  was  not  discovered 
by  Bosio  ;  but  it  has  now  been  taken 
possession  of  by  the  Cardinal  Vicar, 
acting  in  the  name  of  the  Pope,  and 
the  keys  can  only  be  obtained  at  the 
Vicariate.  The  usual  inscription  an¬ 
nouncing  this  has  been  recently  put 
up  over  the  entrance.  (See  p.  93.) 

*  Var.  lympha,. 


V.  LOCAL  ARRANGEMENT. 


Via  Cornelia,  or  Triumphalis. 

S.  Peter’s  Church  at  the  Vatican. 

S.  Peter’s  Church  was  built  over  the  catacomb  of  the  Vatican, 
near  the  Via  Triumphalis,  in  which  many  of  the  early  Popes  were 
buried  in  the  first  and  second  centuries ;  but  this  catacomb  was 
of  small  extent :  the  soil  being  clay,  was  not  found  suitable  for  the 
purpose.  In  the  fourth  century,  Pope  Damasus  ascertained  that  the 
bodies  interred  in  the  cemetery  or  catacomb  of  the  Vatican  were 
lying  in  water  ;  he  sought  for  the  spring  which  caused  this,  and  on 
cutting  away  the  rock  he  discovered  it.  He  made  a  fountain  of  it, 
with  a  proper  drain,  and  the  fountain  which  plays  in  the  court  of 
the  Pontifical  palace  on  the  Vatican  Hill  is  supplied  by  that  spring. 
Damasus  placed  in  the  cemetery  an  inscription  recording  what  he 
had  done  °. 

This  catacomb  is  mentioned  by  Eusebius  as  existing  in  the  time 
of  Nero,  and  he  quotes  the  authority  of  Caius,  a  writer  of  the  third 
century  ;  but  there  is  still  the  want  of  cotitemporary  evidence  for  the 
important  facts  relating  to  these  martyrdoms  and  the  very  early 
Christian  cemeteries. 

“Thus  Nero,  publicly  announcing  himself  as  the  chief  enemy  of  God,  was  led 
on  in  his  fury  to  slaughter  the  Apostles.  Paul  is  therefore  said  to  have  been  be¬ 
headed  at  Rome,  and  Peter  to  have  been  crucified,  under  him ;  and  this  account  is 
confirmed  by  the  fact  that  the  names  of  Peter  and  Paul  still  remain  in  the  cemeteries 
of  that  city  even  to  this  day.  But  likewise,  a  certain  ecclesiastical  writer,  Caius  by 
name,  who  was  born  about  the  time  of  Zephyrinus,  Bishop  of  Rome,  disputing 
with  Proclus,  the  leader  of  the  Phrygian  sect,  gives  the  following  statement  respect¬ 
ing  the  places  where  the  earthly  tabernacles  of  the  said  Apostles  are  laid.  But 
I  can  show,  says  he,  the  trophies  of  the  Apostles  ;  for  if  you  will  go  to  the  Vatican, 
or  to  the  Ostian  road,  you  will  find  the  trophies  of  those  who  have  laid  the  founda¬ 
tion  of  this  church,  and  that  both  suffered  martyrdom  about  the  same  time?.” 


°  CINGEBANT  LATICES  MONTEM  TE- 
NEROQVE  MEATV 

CORPORA  MVLTORVM  CINERES  AT- 
QVE  OSSA  RIGABANT. 

NON  TVLIT  HOC  DAMASVS  COMMVNI 
LEGE  SEPVLTOS 

POST  REQVIEM  TRISTES  ITERVM  PER- 
SOLVERE  POENAS, 

PROTINVS  AGGRESSVS  MAGNVM  SV- 
PERARE  LABOREM, 

AGGERIS  IMMENSI  DEIECIT  CVL- 
MINA  MONTIS. 

INTIMA  SOLLICITE  SCRVTATVS  VIS¬ 


CERA  TERRAE, 

SICCAVIT  TOTVM  QVIDQVID  MADE- 
FECERAT  HVMOR, 

INVENIT  FONTEM  PRAEBET  QVI 
DONA  SALVTIS. 

HAEC  CVRAVIT  MERCVRIVS  LEVITA 
FIDELIS. 

The  remains  of  this  catacomb  are  be¬ 
lieved  to  have  been  entirely  destroyed 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  in  building  the 
foundations  of  the  great  church. 

p  Eusebius,  Hist.  Eccles.,  lib.  ii.  c.  25, 
A.  D.  54-68. 


SECT.  V.] 


Via  Cornelia. — Peter  s. 


57 


The  following  early  Bishops  of  Rome,  or  Popes,  are  said  oil  an 
inscription  of  Damasus  q,  given  by  Anastasius,  also  in  an  old  Itinerary, 
repeated  by  Panvinius,  to  have  been  buried  in  this  catacomb  : — 


1.  S.  Peter  himself,  June  29,  A. D.  65. 

2.  S.  Linus,  Sept.  23,  A.  D.  67. 

3.  S.  Cletus,  April  26,  A.  D.  81. 

5.  S.  Anacletus,  July  13,  a.d.  103. 

6.  S.  Evaristus,  Oct.  26,  a.d.  112. 

8.  S.  Sixtus,  April  6,  A.D.  135. 


9.  S.  Telesphoras,  Jan.  5,  a.d.  141. 
10.  S.  Hyginus,  Jan.  11,  A.D.  154. 

12.  S.  Pius,  July  11,  a.d.  166. 

14.  S.  Eleutherius,  May  26,  A.D.  198. 

15.  S.  Victor,  July  18,  a.d.  199. 


After  a  church  was  built  on  the  site,  there  is  no  distinction  between 
this  catacomb  and  ordinary  burial-vaults.  S.  Peter’s  became  the 
usual  place  of  interment  for  the  Bishops  of  Rome,  whether  they  were 
kings  or  not.  It  was  a  cathedral  church,  and  that  was  the  usual 
place  to  bury  the  bishops,  whether  in  a  catacomb  or  in  the  crypt 
only.  At  the  present  day  the  catacomb  has  either  been  destroyed 
or  entirely  concealed.  Bosio  gives  engravings  of  sculpture  only,  and 
none  that  is  of  an  earlier  date  than  the  fourth  century,  and  no  early 
tombstones  or  inscriptions  from  this  catacomb  have  been  preserved 
or  published.  Alpharanus  and  Aringhi  say  that  there  were  chambers 
or  cubicula  with  paintings r. 

The  following  is  William  bf  Malmesbury’s  account  of  this  road, 
and  the  catacombs  upon  it ;  of  the  second  and  third  churches  (?) 
or  cemetery  chapels  (?)  mentioned  in  this  road  nothing  is  at  present 
known : — 


“  The  first  is  the  Cornelian  gate s,  which  is  now  called  the  gate  of  S.  Peter,  and 
the  Cornelian  way.  Near  it  is  situated  the  church  of  S.  Peter,  in  which  his  body 


No  three  authors  agree  as  to  the 
history  of  the  martyrdom  and  burial  of 
S.  Peter.  Some  say  that  the  martyrdom 
took  place  on  the  Janiculum,  and  on  the 
highest  part  of  it,  called  Mons  Aureus, 
where  the  church  of  S.  Pietro  in  Mon- 
torio  now  stands.  Others  say  it  was 
in  the  valley  in  or  near  to  the  Nauma- 
chia  of  Augustus,  where  the  monastery 
of  S.  Cosimato  (SS.  Cosmas  and  Da¬ 
mian)  now  stands.  Others,  on  the  Vati¬ 
can  Hill,  on  the  site  of  the  great  church, 
a  mile  from  the  other  sites.  The  ac¬ 
counts  of  the  burial  are  mentioned  with 
the  respective  catacombs,  and  an  attempt 
has  been  made  to  reconcile  the  appa¬ 
rently  contradictory  statements,  by  sup¬ 
posing  the  bodies  to  have  been  buried 
in  one  place  and  translated  more  than 
once,  and  the  heads  buried  in  a  different 
place  from  the  bodies.  See  the  cata¬ 
comb  of  S.  Lucina  and  church  of  S. 
Paul,  c.  v.  ;  and  S.  Sebastian,  c.  6. 


Signor  de  Rossi  is  of  opinion  that 
the  tombstone  of  Linus  was  discovered 
in  the  seventeenth  century  with  the  name 
only.  See  Bullettino  cli  Archeologia 
Cristiana,  1864,  p.  50. 

The  earliest  authority  for  these  burials 
is  Damasus,  as  published  in  the  work 
of  Anastasius.  The  dates  are  corrected 
according  to  the  latest  investigations 
published  by  Dr.  R.  A.  Lipsius  under 
these  titles  : — “  Die  Papstverzeichnisse 
des  Eusebios,  und  der  von  ihm  abhan- 
gigen  Chronisten,”  &c.,  29  pages, 

4to.,  Kiel,  1868;  and  “  Chronologie 
des  Romischen  Bischofe  bis  zur  Mitte 
des  vierten  Jahrhunderts,”  280  pages, 
8vo.,  Kiel,  1869. 

r  Bosio  gives  twenty-eight  plates  of 
sculptures  belonging  to  S.  Peter’s  Church, 
and  sarcophagi  found  in  the  crypt,  but 
no  paintings.  See  Appendix. 

8  Malmesbury’s  History  of  the  Kings 
of  England,  and  the  Modern  History, 


58 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


lies,  decked  with  gold  and  silver  and  precious  stones  ;  and  no  one  knows  the  num¬ 
ber  of  the  holy  martyrs  who  rest  in  that  church,  in  which  lie  the  holy  virgins  Ru¬ 
fina  and  Secunda.  In  a  third  church  are  Marius  and  Martha  ;  and  Audifax  and 
Abacuc,  their  sons.  ” 

It  seems  nearly  certain  that  William  of  Malmesbury,  in  his  account 
of  the  Catacombs,  followed  an  old  Itinerary  prepared  for  the  use  of 
the  pilgrims  to  these  shrines;  and  it  is  probably  taken  from  a 
manuscript  of  the  eighth  century,  preserved  at  Einsiedlen,  which  was 
afterwards  used  also  by  Panvinius  in  the  seventeenth  century,  in  his 
celebrated  chapter  “De  Coemeteriis  Urbis  RomaeV’  The  order  is 
the  same,  and  often  the  same  words  are  used.  The  text  given  to  us 
by  Malmesbury,  in  the  twelfth  century,  appears  to  be  the  best ; 
Panvinius  has  added  to  it,  and  the  text  of  the  older  account  is 
unfortunately  in  such  a  bad  state  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
follow  it  in  many  parts.  Pilgrimages  to  the  Catacombs  were  the  rage 
in  the  sixth  century ;  they  have  been  renewed  from  time  to  time, 
with  considerable  intervals.  In  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries  the 
fashion  was  very  strong ;  it  continued  with  more  or  less  force 
throughout  the  Middle  Ages,  until  the  sixteenth  century,  when  the 
Catacombs  seem  to  have  been  entirely  forgotten,  so  that  the  re¬ 
searches  of  Bosio  were  looked  upon  as  a  wonderful  discovery,  as  we 
have  said.  Panvinius  was  a  cotemporary  of  Bosio,  and  one  of  the 
most  learned  men  of  his  day.  Having  probably  found  the  old  Itine¬ 
rary  in  the  Vatican  library,  and  given  useful  information  to  Bosio,  he 
was  one  of  the  first  to  call  attention  to  the  antiquities  of  Rome, 
and  his  works  contain  much  valuable  information  respecting  them. 
Buried  as  everything  then  was,  he  was  obliged  to  make  bold  con¬ 
jectures,  many  of  which  no  doubt  proved  correct ;  but  they  are  not 
always  to  be  depended  on.  His  works  constitute  the  foundation  of 
what  are  now  called  “the  Traditions  of  the  Roman  Antiquaries.” 


translated  by  Sharpe.  4to.  London,  1815, 
p.421.  The  references  to  William  of 
Malmesbury  are  given  to  the  English 
translation  by  Sharpe  for  the  conveni¬ 
ence  of  English  readers,  but  the  Latin 
text  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix. 

1  The  following  is  the  title  of  his 
work  on  the  Catacombs  :  ‘  ‘  Onuphrii 
Panvinii  Veronensis,  fratris  eremitae 
Augustiniani,  de  Ritu  sepeliendi  mortuos 


apud  veteres  Christianos,  et  eorundem 
coemeteriis  Liber.  ”  It  was  printed  with 
“  Historia  B.  Platinae  de  vitis  Pontifi- 
cum  Romanorum,  fol.  Colonise,  1568/’ 
reprinted  at  Louvain  in  1572,  and  at 
Rome  in  1581,  both  8vo.,  and  a  French 
translation  was  published  at  Paris  in 
1613,  8vo.  Some  further  account  of 
this  work  will  be  found  in  the  Ap¬ 
pendix. 


v.] 


Via  Aurelia. — Pancratius. 


59 


Via  Aurelia. — S.  Pancratius. 

“The  fourteenth  is  the  Aurelian  gate  and  way,  which  now  is  called  the  gate  of 
S.  Pancras,  because  he  lies  near  it  in  his  church,  and  the  other  martyrs,  Paulinus, 
Arthemius,  S.  Sapientia|(or  Wisdom),  with  her  three  daughters,  Faith,  Hope,  and 
Charity.  In  another  church,  Processus  and  Martinianus  ;  and  in  a  third,  two 
Felix’s  ;  in  a  fourth,  Calixtus  and  Calepodius  ;  in  a  fifth,  S.  BasilidesV’ 


Panvinius  mentions  a  catacomb  of  Lucina  on  the  Via  Aurelia, 
this  is  usually  placed  on  the  Via  Ostiensis. 

The  catacomb  of  S.  Calepodius x  is  mentioned  in  the  Acta  S.  Ca- 
lixti  as  on  the  Via  Aurelia,  at  the  third  mile,  and  it  is  believed  to 
be  the  same  as  that  now  called  S.  Pancratius.  Calepodius  is  said 
to  have  been  a  priest  under  Calixtus,  and  a  martyr  in  the  time  of 
Alexander  Severus ;  according  to  the  legend,  his  body  was  thrown 
into  the  Tiber,  rescued  from  it,  and  buried  in  this  cemetery.  S.  Julius, 
a  senator,  and  Antoninus,  martyrs  under  Commodus,  are  also  said  to 
have  been  interred  here.  The  body  of  S.  Calixtus  is  also  said  to 
have  been  recovered  from  the  pit  into  which  it  had  been  thrown  by 
order  of  Alexander  Severus,  and  buried  in  this  catacomb,  together 
with  Palmatius 7  the  consul,  his  wife,  children,  and  other  members  of 
his  family,  to  the  number  of  forty;  Simplicius,  with  his  wife  and 
family,  to  the  number  of  seventy-eight;  and  Felix,  with  his  wife 
Blanda, — all  these  are  said  to  have  been  baptized  by  Calixtus,  and 
put  to  death  by  order  of  Alexander  Severus.  Pancratius  is  said  to 
have  been  a  martyr  at  the  age  of  fourteen  under  Diocletian,  and  his 
history  is  related  by  Bede.  After  the  peace  of  the  Church,  Julius  I. 
was  buried  here,  and  the  catacomb  was  sometimes  called  after  him z. 
The  relics  of  many  of  these  saints  and  martyrs  were  translated  to  the 
church  of  S.  Maria  trans  Tiberim ;  the  head  of  S.  Pancratius  was 
translated  to  the  Lateran,  and  the  body  placed  in  the  church  of  the 
monastery  of  S.  Pancratius,  under  the  high  altar  there ;  and  these 
relics  were  said  to  work  miracles a. 


u  William  of  Malmesbury,  p.  421. 
x  See  our  Chronological  Table,  a.  d. 
222. 

y  There  is  no  such  name  among  the 
consuls ;  possibly  Patemus,  A.  d.  233, 
may  be  the  person  intended,  unless  the 
whole  story  is  a  fiction.  The  large  num¬ 
ber  makes  it  appear  doubtful. 


z  The  inscriptions  of  Damasus,  quoted 
by  Panvinius,  give  three  catacombs  to 
S.  Julius, — I.  on  the  Via  Flaminia,  near 
the  church  of  S.  Valentinus  extra  muros  ; 
II.  on  the  Via  Aurelia ;  III.  on  the  Via 
Portuensi,  as  already  mentioned  in  the 
Chronological  Table,  a.  d.  331. 

"  The  same  cemetery  or  catacomb,  in 


6o 


Catacombs. — S.  Pontianus. 


[SECT. 


The  catacomb  of  S.  Pancratius,  which  contains  four  painted  cham¬ 
bers  or  cubicula,  in  its  present  state  does  not  possess  much  interest ; 
the  soil  is  not  favourable  for  the  purpose,  and  many  of  the  walls  and 
vaults  are  of  brick,  some  of  which  appear  to  be  ancient  and  original, 
with  repairs  of  the  eighth  or  ninth  century  or  later.  The  entrance 
to  the  catacomb  is  through  the  church,  which  has  been  several 
times  rebuilt,  and  the  present  appearance  of  it  is  entirely  modern. 


Via  Portuensis. — S.  Pontianus. 


‘  ‘  The  thirteenth  is  called  the  Portuan  gate  and  way  ;  near  which,  in  a  church, 
are  the  martyrs,  Foelix,  Alexander,  Abdon  and  Sennen,  Symeon,  Anastasius,  Polion, 
Vincentius,  Milex,  Candida,  and  Innocentiab.” 

The  catacomb  of  SS.  Abdon,  Sennen,  Pygmenius,  and  S.  Pontianus, 
is  generally  called  after  S.  Pontianus  only;  it  was  formerly  called  “  Ad 
Ursum  Pileatum,”  from  a  figure  of  a  bear  which  was  at  the  entrance. 
It  is  situated  on  a  hill  on  the  Via  Portuense,  about  a  mile  beyond 
the  gate,  is  made  in  a  rock  of  sandstone  of  fluvial  deposit,  an  ex¬ 
cellent  material  for  the  purpose,  and  is  consequently  in  good  con¬ 
dition.  It  contains  a  baptistery,  with  a  well  or  spring  of  pure 
water,  over  which  is  a  small  chapel  painted,  with  a  jewelled  cross 
and  figures,  among  which  are  the  saints  Abdon  and  Sennen,  in  the 
style  of  the  time  of  Pope  Hadrian  I.  ;  but  these  paintings  probably 
replace  earlier  ones,  as  this  catacomb  is  an  early  one.  There  are 
also  two  fine  heads  of  Christ,  one  with  a  jewelled  nimbus,  but  of  the 
eighth  century,  the  time  of  Hadrian. 

According  to  the  Martyrologium  Romanum,  S.  Quirinus,  who 
was  a  martyr  under  Claudius,  a.d.  41 — 54,  was  buried  in  this 
catacomb  ;  but  that  would  be  before  the  time  of  the  first  per¬ 
secution,  and  of  the  martyrdom  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  and  seems 
very  apocryphal.  The  next  martyrs  said  to  be  buried  in  it  are 


a  general  sense,  is  frequently  called  by 
different  names,  after  the  saints  or  mar¬ 
tyrs  that  were  interred  there,  each  in 
a  separate  cubiculum  or  burial-vault. 
The  name  of  ‘catacomb’  is  constantly 
applied  in  two  senses,  the  one  general 
for  the  whole  cemetery,  the  other  special 
for  each  particular  burial-vault  or  chapel. 
That  of  S.  Panci'atius  was  called,  at  dif¬ 
ferent  periods,  in  this  manner  by  the 
names  of  S.  Lucina,  SS.  Processus  and 
Martinus,  S.  Agatha,  S.  Calixtus,  S.  Ju¬ 
lius,  S.  Felix.  The  inscription  of  Da- 
masus,  relating  to  S.  Felix,  is  also  pre¬ 


served,  and  from  this  it  appears  that 
Damasus  also  built  and  adorned  his 
tomb,  that  is,  his  cubiculum  or  vault, 
in  this  catacomb.  In  the  Einsiedlen 
manuscript  the  following  catacombs  are 
recorded  as  places  of  pilgrimage  be¬ 
tween  the  Via  Aurelia  and  the  Via  Por¬ 
tuensis  : — Processus  and  Martinianus,  and 
Pancratius,  Abdon  and  Sennen.  The 
catacomb  of  S.  Felix  is  considered  by 
Panvinius  as  distinct  from,  but  adjoining 
to,  that  of  Calepodius,  and  he  puts  it  at 
the  second  mile  on  the  Via  Aurelia. 
b  William  of  Malmesbury,  p.  424. 


V.] 


Via  Portuensis. — .S'.  Pontianus. 


6 1 


SS.  Abdon  and  Sennen,  but  their  bodies  were  only  translated  to  this 
place  in  the  time  of  Constantine ;  they  had  previously  been  buried 
near  the  Amphitheatre,  where  their  martyrdom  had  taken  place. 
Their  relics  were  afterwards  again  translated  to  the  church  of 
S.  Marcus  by  Gregory  IV.  (a.d.  827 — 844),  at  the  time  when  the 
Lombard  invasion  made  it  necessary  to  remove  the  relics  of  the 
saints  and  martyrs  within  the  walls  of  the  city  for  security. 

S.  Pygmenius,  a  martyr  under  Julian  the  Apostate  (a.d.  362),  is  also 
said  to  have  been  interred  here  by  the  matron  Candida,  near  to 
SS.  Abdon  and  Sennen.  It  is  likewise  related  by  William  of  Malmes¬ 
bury  that  there  was  a  chapel  in  honour  of  SS.  Abdon  and  Sennen, 
and  of  S.  Candida,  in  this  cemetery  or  catacomb. 

Anastasius  I.,  a.d.  401,  and  Innocentius  I.,  a.d.  417,  are  also  said 
to  have  been  interred  here.  The  relics  of  the  former,  with  those  of 
other  saints,  were  translated  by  Paschal  I.  to  the  church  of  S.  Pras- 
sede  or  Praxedes,  and  those  of  Innocentius  to  the  “  Titulum  Equitii,” 
or  S.  Pietro  ad  vincula,  by  Sergius  II.  Other  martyrs,  named  Felix, 
Alexander,  Simeon,  Pollion,  Vincentius,  Milex,  are  likewise  said  in 
the  Itineraries  to  have  been  interred  here,  and  their  relics  were 
also  translated  to  S.  Prassede  by  Paschal  I. 

The  paintings  in  this  catacomb  are  not  numerous ;  but  they  are 
more  than  usually  perfect,  and  seem  to  be  for  the  most  part  in 
the  same  state  as  in  the  time  of  Bosio c.  On  descending  into 
this  catacomb  the  first  paintings  to  attract  attention  are  at  the 
end  of  one  of  the  corridors,  one  right  in  front13,  with  others  on 
each  side  of  this.  The  principal  painting  consists  of  three  stand¬ 
ing  figures  of  saints,  with  the  nimbus,  draped  in  long  flowing  robes 
and  stoles  (or  coloured  or  black  borders  to  the  cloak  ?),  with 
their  names  vertically  over  their  shoulders.  1.  S.  Marcellinus,  with 
a  roll  of  parchment  or  book  in  his  hand.  2.  S.  Pollion,  with  the 
crown  of  martyrdom  in  his  hand.  3.  S.  Peter.  On  the  side  of 
these  are  two  other  saints,  Milex  and  Pygmenius,  with  a  jewelled 
cross  between  them.  These  paintings  are  on  a  coat  of  plaster, 
which  has  peeled  off  in  places,  and  shews  distinctly  under  it 
a  brick  wall,  with  wide  joints  of  mortar  of  the  usual  well-known 
character  of  the  eighth  century.  The  style  of  drawing  of  the 
pictures  is  also  of  that  period,  agreeing  with  the  mosaics  of  the 


c  Bosio  gives  engravings  of  seven 
paintings  from  this  catacomb,  which 
are  in  a  more  perfect  state  than  any 
of  the  others.  The  same  subjects  have 
been  copied  repeatedly,  but  no  fresh 
ones  added.  See  Appendix. 


d  This  painting  is  on  a  wall  of  the 
eighth  century,  built  across  the  corridor ; 
the  part  beyond  it  was  too  much  damaged 
to  be  restored,  or  perhaps  enough  was 
done  for  the  pilgrims. 


62 


Catacombs. — S.  Pontianus. 


[SECT. 


same  time  in  the  churches,  many  of  which  bear  the  names  of  the 
donors.  The  paintings  over  the  well  or  baptistery  in  this  catacomb 
are  perhaps  the  best  known,  and  the  most  celebrated  of  all  the 
paintings  in  the  Roman  Catacombs.  Amongst  them  is  the  large 
and  very  rich  cross,  of  the  same  form  as  the  small  jewelled  cross  on 
the  wall  of  the  eighth  century  before  mentioned,  and  of  precisely  the 
same  character  as  a  work  of  art.  There  are  also  two  fine  heads  of 
Christ,  with  the  nimbus  enriched  with  jewels,  and  a  large  one  on  the 
vault  over  the  steps  that  descend  to  the  well ;  the  other  is  on  the  wall 
at  the  top.  The  painting  of  the  Baptism  of  Christ  by  the  Baptist,  in 
which  He  is  represented  as  standing  in  the  water  above  the  waist, 
is  probably  the  earliest  example  of  this  favourite  idea  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  There  is  also  a  painting  of  the  three  children  in  the  burning 
fiery  furnace,  as  engraved  by  Bosio,  but  now  much  decayed ;  and 
figures  of  other  saints,  with  their  names  written  vertically  as  before  : 
Milex,  standing  in  the  oriental  attitude  of  prayer,  with  the  hands  ex¬ 
tended,  dressed  in  a  sort  of  highland  costume ;  Abdon  and  Sennen, 
standing  turned  towards  the  head  of  Christ,  which  emerges  from 
a  cloud  between  them.  He  places  the  crown  of  martyrdom  upon 
each,  and  they  are  draped  in  the  costume  of  the  eighth  century, 
wearing  trousers,  with  a  short  cloak  reaching  to  the  knees,  and  the 
Phrygian  cap.  As  to  Vincentius,  he  is  standing  in  the  attitude  of 
prayer,  draped  in  a  long  robe  with  an  apron.  All  have  the  circular 
nimbus. 

Another  painted  chamber,  not  described  by  Bosio,  has  the  Good 
Shepherd  in  a  circular  panel  in  the  centre  of  the  vault,  and  ap¬ 
parently  the  history  of  Jonah  in  the  four  square  compartments,  with 
ornaments  between  of  late  character, — all  much  decayed  or  damaged. 
The  whole  of  the  paintings  in  this  catacomb  evidently  belong  to  the 
same  period,  the  eighth  century,  as  we  have  said,  when  it  was  re¬ 
stored,  that  is,  repaired  and  repainted  for  the  edification  of  the 
pilgrims.  Anastasius  records  the  restoration  of  this  catacomb  or 
cemetery  by  Pope  Hadrian  I.,  a.d.  772 — 7 95  e,  and  the  character 
of  the  work  agrees  perfectly  with  that  period. 

Of  the  other  catacombs  on  the  Via  Portuensis,  one  is  said  by 
Aringhi f  to  have  been  made  by  Felix  II.,  when  he  was  expelled  from 
his  bishop’s  throne  by  Constantius,  a.d.  305,  and  retired  to  a  farm 
which  he  possessed  on  this  road.  A  church  or  chapel  is  also  men¬ 
tioned  in  connection  with  it. 

Santi  Bartoli  relates  some  curious  discoveries  in  his  time  in  a 

4  Anastasius  in  S.  Adriano,  §  336. 

f  Aringhi,  Roma  Subterranea  Novissima,  lib.  ii.  c.  18,  tom.  i.  p.  360. 


V.] 


Via  Portuensis. — A.  Pontianus. 


63 


Christian  (?)  catacomb  outside  of  the  Porta  Portuensis,  in  a  vineyard 
belonging  to  the  Abbot  of  the  Effetti  (1).  A  number  of  bodies  were 
found,  supposed  to  be  those  of  saints,  and  with  them  “  a  splendid 
series  of  very  rare  medallions,  pieces  of  metals,  incised  gems,  pearls, 
and  all  sorts  of  things  more  curious  for  the  learned®,”  which  had 
probably  been  votive  offerings  of  the  faithful. 


e  “In  uno  cemeterio  Cristiano  sca- 
vato  nella  vigna  dell’Abbate  degli  Effetti, 
fuori  di  Porta  Portesi,  oltre  i  corpi 
santi  in  quantita,  vi  fu  trovata  bellissima 
serie  di  medaglioni  rarissimi  ....  Si 


sono  anche  trovati  in  quantity  bellissimi 
pezzi  di  metalli,  intagli  de’  gemme  cris- 
talli,  perle,  ed  ogni  genere  di  cose  piu 
curiose  ed  erudite.”  (Santi  Bartoli, 
apud  Fea,  Miscellanea,  p.  238.) 


64 


Catacombs. — 5'.  Generosa . 


[SECT. 


S.  Generosa,  at  the  College  of  the  Arvales. 

This  catacomb  is  situated  in  the  Via  Portuensis,  at  the  sixth 
mile  from  Rome  on  the  bank  of  the  Tiber.  It  was  excavated  in 
1868,  at  the  expense  of  the  King  and  Queen  of  Prussia,  under 
the  direction  of  Ur.  Henzen  and  Signor  de  Rossi ;  and  what  gives 
this  catacomb  unusual  interest,  is  that  the  greater  part  of  the  graves 
or  loculi  have  not  been  opened.  The  original  coverings  over  the 
openings,  which  are  almost  all  of  tiles  only,  are  left  hermetically 
sealed  with  plaster  round  the  edges,  as  usual  when  they  have  not 
been  opened  ;  on  this  plaster  or  mortar  the  inscriptions  or  marks, 
by  which  to  know  the  graves,  have  been  scratched  while  the  mortar 
was  wet,  and,  as  that  has  set  as  hard  as  a  rock,  they  appear  as  fresh 
as  if  they  had  been  written  yesterday.  One  of  these,  gives  the  names 
of  the  consuls,  which  are  of  the  fourth  century ;  some  of  the  tiles  or 
bricks  also  have  upon  them  the  brick-stamps  of  the  same  period. 
Near  the  entrance  is  a  deep  well  of  early  character,  probably  also  of 
the  same  period. 

An  excellent  •  account  of  these  excavations  was  published  by 
Dr.  Henzen,  who  had  the  direction  of  them h,  in  which  he  gives 
all  the  inscriptions,  with  facsimiles  of  the  most  important.  The 
College  of  the  Arvales  has  obviously  nothing  to  do  with  the  cata¬ 
comb,  except  that  it  happens  to  be  in  their  grounds. 

“  Coemeterium  Generosse  ad  sextum  Philippi”  is  described  by  Bosio 
and  Aringhi  as  six  miles  from  the  city ;  the  martyrs  Simplicius,  Faus- 
tinus,  and  Beatrix,  are  said  to  have  been  buried  in  it,  and  their  relics 
translated  by  Leo  II.,  first  to  S.  Paul’s,  and  then  to  S.  Maria  Mag- 
giore,  where  an  inscription  to  that  effect  is  preserved.  This  must 
be  the  same  as  the  one  mentioned  above. 

This  catacomb  was  in  the  sacred  grove  or  wood  of  the  college 
of  the  Arvales.  Simplicius  and  Faustinus  were  martyrs  in  the 
great  persecution  under  Diocletian,  at  the  end  of  the  third  cen¬ 
tury.  This  burial-place  appears  to  have  been  then  in  existence, 
or  to  have  been  then  made  :  which  is  remarkable,  as  it  seems  to 
shew  that  some  of  the  priests  of  the  college  of  the  Arvales  must 
have  been  Christians  at  that  time,  although  the  college  was  still 
nominally  dedicated  to  the  Goddess  Dia,  and  the  grove  was  called 
Lucus  Deco  Dice  in  some  of  the  inscriptions  of  the  Arvales.  De 

h  “  Scavi  nel  Bosco  Sacro  dei  fratelli  Relazione  a  nome  dell’  Institute)  di  Cor- 
Arvali,  per  larghezza  delle  LL.  MM.  rispondenza  Archeologica,  publicata  da 
Guglielmo  ed  Augusta,  Re  e  Regina  di  Guglielmo  Henzen.”  (Roma,  dalla  Ti- 
Prussia,  operati  dai  Signori  Ceccarelli.  pografia  Tiberina,  1868.) 


v.] 


Via  Portuensis. — 5.  Generosa. 


65 


Rossi  considers  that  the  college  was  abolished  in  the  third  century, 
and  the  site  could  therefore  be  used  as  a  cemetery  in  the  fourth. 
If  this  conjecture  is  correct,  the  college  must  have  been  rebuilt  just 
before  its  suppression,  as  the  remains  of  the  building  now  visible  are 
of  the  third  century.  There  are  numerous  fragments  of  cornices 
and  other  ornamental  features,  the  character  of  which  is  very  dis¬ 
tinct  and  late.  The  vault  under  the  college  also  remains,  and  is 
almost  entirely  of  the  same  period.  On  the  other  hand,  none  of  the 
fragments  of  the  calendar  found  here  at  the  same  time  are  of  later 
date  than  the  third  century.  The  legend  relates  that  the  bodies  of 
the  martyrs  were  thrown  over  the  stone  bridge  into  the  Tiber,  and 
were  recovered  by  their  sister  Beatrix  or  Victrix,  near  the  place 
called  Ad  Sexturn  Philippi ,  on  the  Via  Portuensis.  She  took  refuge 
with  the  Christian  matron,  Lucina ;  but  the  persecutors  seized  her, 
and,  after  keeping  her  a  prisoner  for  seven  months,  suffocated  her 
in  prison.  Her  body  was  recovered  by  Lucina,  who  gave  it  for 
interment  to  the  brothers  at  Sextus  Philippus \ 

At  the  entrance j  of  the  catacomb  are  the  ruins  of  a  small  chapel 
with  an  apse,  the  construction  of  which  may  be  of  the  fourth 
century.  This  chapel  is  excavated  to  a  considerable  depth,  and  is 
on  a  level  with  the  catacomb  itself.  There  is  an  opening  to  look 
into  the  catacomb,  in  which  was  apparently  a  grating,  as  at  the 
catacomb  of  S.  Cyriaca,  and  there  was  a  door  from  this  chapel  into 
the  catacomb :  it  was  therefore  the  regular  entrance  to  it.  The 
present  entrance  is  not  an  original  one,  though  very  near  to  it. 
The  catacomb  was  probably  made  in  an  old  sand-pit  gallery.  Over 
the  door  of  the  chapel  was  an  inscription  in  the  beautiful  characters 
of  the  time  of  Damasus k ;  a  small  portion  only  has  been  preserved. 
The  bodies,  or  the  relics  of  these  martyrs,  were  translated  by  Leo  II. 
to  the  church  of  S.  Bibiana,  within  the  wall  of  Aurelian,  near  the 


1  Adonis  Martyrol.,  ed.  Georgio  Rho- 
digino,  p.  359,  apud  de  Rossi,  Bullet- 
tino  di  Archeologia  Cristiana,  1869, 
No.  1.  This  author  Ado,  who  lived 
in  the  ninth  century,  is  the  earliest 
authority  for  the  legend  that  he  can 
find  with  all  his  well-known  diligence 
in  the  research  for  authorities.  Six 
hundred  years  after  the  event  for  the 
earliest  mention  of  it,  makes  the  legend 
very  doubtful ;  but  the  painting  and  the 
inscriptions  are  better  evidence. 

j  The  present  entrance  is  entirely 
modern  ;  there  were  probably  two  en¬ 
trances  originally,  one  through  the 
chapel,  where  the  grating  was  after¬ 


wards  placed ;  the  other  from  a  sand¬ 
pit  road  at  the  opposite  end,  where  a 
sand-pit  remains  with  an  entrance  from 
it  into  the  catacomb,  or  at  the  present 
time  the  reverse,  an  entrance  from  the 
catacomb  to  the  sand-pit.  This  cata¬ 
comb  is  not  of  much  extent,  and  the 
whole  of  it  seems  now  to  have  been 
excavated.  It  had  evidently  been  ex¬ 
amined  in  the  time  of  Bosio. 
k  MARTIRES  SIMPLICIVS  ET  FAVSTINVS 

QVI  PASSI  SVNT  IN  FLVMEN  TIBERE 
ET  POSITI 

SVNT  IN  CEMETERIVM  GENEROSES 
SVPER 

. FILIPPI. 


F 


66 


Catacombs. — .S'.  Gencrosa. 


[SECT. 


Porta  di  S.  Lorenzo,  a.d.  682  \  Signor  de  Rossi  gives  in  his  Bul- 
lettino  di  Archeologia  Cristicma  a  learned  dissertation  on  the  name 
of  Beatrix  or  Victrix,  which  he  shews  to  be  the  same ;  the  variation 
of  the  spelling  arises  from  the  difference  of  pronunciation  in  dif¬ 
ferent  provinces,  and  such  variations  are  still  of  common  occurrence. 
These  account  for  many  of  the  variations  in  the  spelling  of  names 
on  ancient  inscriptions.  He  also  shews  in  a  similar  manner  that 
Rufus  and  Rufinius  and  Rufinianus ,  Faustinus  and  Faustinianus , 
Balesicinus  and  Valesianus,  are  similar  variations  in  the  spelling 
only. 

The  names  of  the  consuls  scratched  on  the  plaster  of  one  of  the 
loculi  or  graves,  give  the  date  of  a.d.  372,  and  shew  the  catacomb 
to  have  been  then  in  use.  a.d.  382  is  also  the  probable  date  of  the 
chapel  with  the  inscription  of  Damasus. 

There  is  only  one  painted  chamber  in  this  catacomb,  and  the 
painting  m  appears  to  be  of  the  sixth  century.  It  represents  a  group 
of  five  figures,  all  with  the  nimbus,  four  with  each  his  crown  of 
martyrdom  in  his  hand.  The  names  of  Faustinianus  and  Rufinianus , 
written  vertically,  are  perfect;  the  other  two  names  are  mutilated 
and  indistinct.  In  the  centre  of  the  picture  is  Christ  with  the 
cruciform  nimbus,  the  right  hand  raised  in  the  attitude  of  bene¬ 
diction,  according  to  the  Byzantine  fashion  ;  the  left  hand  holds  the 
Gospel  in  a  rich  jewelled  binding.  Under  the  feet  of  all  the  figures 
are  wavy  lines,  representing  the  waves  of  the  river  in  which  they 
were  drowned. 

Julius  I.  (a.d.  337 — 352)  is  said  to  have  made  three  catacombs, 
one  of  which  was  on  this  road,  and  the  martyrs  Cyrus  and  Joannes 
were  buried  in  it.  They  suffered  martyrdom  in  the  tenth  persecution, 
under  Diocletian,  a.d.  300  ;  their  bodies,  or  what  were  supposed 
to  be  the  relics  of  them,  were  translated  into  the  city,  to  the  church 
of  S.  Prassede,  under  the  emperors  Honorius  and  Arcadius,  a.d.  414, 
and  a  church  was  built  (?),  or  a  chapel  made  in  the  catacomb  (?) 
by  the  noble  matron  Theodora,  as  related  by  Sophronius  in  a  very 
prolix  story.  This  is  said  to  have  been  two  miles  from  the  city,  on 
the  bank  of  the  Tiber,  opposite  S.  Paul’s ;  the  place  was  corruptly 
called  Santa  Passera  in  the  time  of  Aringhi.  These  relics  were 
interred  in  the  confessio  under  the  altar,  and  an  inscription  over  the 
door  stated  that  the  relics  of  SS.  Cyrus  and  John  of  Alexandria, 
martyrs  of  the  time  of  Diocletian,  in  the  year  303,  given  to  Rome 

1  Anastas,  in  S.  Leone  ii.  §  149. 

ra  Signor  de  Rossi  gives  a  woodcut  of  this  painting,  from  a  good  drawing. 


V.] 


Via  Portuensis.—S.  Generosa. 


6  7 


by  Alexandria,  the  great  Greek  town n,  were  interred  here.  In  the 
Roman  Martyrology,  S.  Hippolytus,  Bishop  of  Porto,  is  said  to  have 
been  made  a  martyr  by  drowning  him  in  the  Tiber  with  his  hands 
and  feet  tied ;  his  body,  rescued  by  the  Christians,  was  buried  here. 

It  appears  that  all  the  martyrs  who  were  drowned  in  the  Tiber 
were  buried  on  this  road,  when  their  bodies  could  be  recovered  by 
the  Christians,  and  some  at  Porto  itself :  hence,  in  the  time  of  the 
pilgrims,  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries,  this  road  was  looked 
upon  as  especially  sanctified,  and  the  Porta  Portuensis  was  called 
Porta  Romana  for  distinction.  Bosio  made  careful  researches  on 
this  road  for  many  years,  from  1600  to  1618;  he  only  succeeded 
in  finding  two  burying-places,  cemeteries,  or  catacombs,  one  at 
a  place  called  Pozzo  Pantaleo,  evidently  in  an  arenarium  for  Pozzo- 
lana  sand ;  but  though  he  found  some  cubicula ,  with  traces  of  old 
painting  on  the  vault,  including  a  Good  Shepherd  as  usual,  it  was  too 
much  destroyed  to  be  worth  further  search,  and  was  covered  up 
again.  The  distance  of  this  from  Rome  is  not  mentioned0.  The 
other  is  that  now  called  S.  Pontianus.  In  this,  on  the  partition  wall 
under  the  paintings  of  SS.  Marcellinus  and  Petrus,  he  found  a  con¬ 
temporary  inscription,  with  the  name  of  Eustathius,  servant  of 
S.  Marcellinus p.  There  is  another  contemporary  inscription  in  the 
porch  of  S.  Maria  in  Cosmedin,  recording  a  considerable  donation 
to  that  church  by  Duke  Eustathius ;  this  was  probably  the  same 
person  who  called  himself  the  servant  of  the  blessed  Marcellinus, 
much  as  a  good  Anglo-Catholic  would  now  call  himself  the  servant 
of  Christ.  As  this  catacomb  is  situated  on  the  top  of  the  hill  which 
separates  the  Via  Portuensis  from  the  Via  Aurelia,  and  as  SS.  Mar¬ 
cellinus  and  Petrus  received  their  crowns  of  martyrdom  on  the  latter 
road,  Bosio  conjectured  that  this  catacomb  extends  to  both  sides 
of  the  hill,  and  had  originally  an  entrance  from  the  latter  road  also. 
In  that  case,  the  martyrs  Artemius,  Candida,  and  Paulina  were 
probably  buried  in  another  cubiculum  or  chapel  of  this  catacomb. 


11  CORPORA  SANCTA  CYRI  RENITENT 
HIC  ATQVE  IOANNIS 
QVAE  QVONDAM  ROMAE  DEDIT 
ALEXANDRIA  MAGNA. 

0  The  catacomb  of  S.  Generosa, 
when  excavated  at  the  expense  of  the 
King  and  Queen  of  Prussia  in  1868, 
had  evidently  been  examined  before,  to 


some  extent  ;  one  entrance  to  this  is 
from  a  sand-pit  road,  and  there  ap¬ 
pears  every  probability  that  this  is  the 
same  place  that  Bosio  called  Pozzo 
Pantaleo. 

p  EVSTATHIVS  HVMILIS  PECCATOR 
SERVITOR 

B.  MARCELLINI  MARTYRIS. 


F  2 


VI.  THE  VIA  OSTIENSIS,  &c. 


“The  twelfth  gate  and  way  was  called  the  Ostiensian,  but  at  present  S.  Paul’s, 
because  he  lies  near  it  in  his  church.  There,  too,  is  the  martyr  Timotheus ;  and 
near,  in  the  church  of  S.  Thecla,  are  the  martyrs  Felix,  Audactus,  and  Nemesius. 
At  the  Three  Fountains'1  is  the  head  of  the  martyr  S.  Anastasius.” 


Catacomb  of  Lucina  or  S.  Paul. 

Lucina  is  said  to  have  been  a  pious  lady  of  one  of  the  great 
families  of  Rome,  daughter  of  a  Senator,  a  rich  heiress,  and  one  of 
the  early  Christians,  a  disciple  of  the  Apostles.  She  is  reported  to  have 
interred  the  bodies  of  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul  in  her  farm  on  the  Via 
Ostiensis,  and  to  have  founded  the  church  of  S.  Paul  on  the  spot 
where  his  body  was  discovered  ;  this  was  afterwards  rebuilt  as  a  mag¬ 
nificent  cathedral  in  the  fourth  century,  and  has  been  several  times 
rebuilt r.  There  is  an  altar  to  her  memory  in  a  chapel,  with  a  tes¬ 
sellated  pavement  to  the  left  of  the  apse,  and  an  inscription,  which 
states  that  under  that  pavement  is  the  cemetery  of  S.  Lucina,  in 
which  the  bodies  of  many  martyrs  are  buried.  Lucina8  appears 
to  have  been  the  family  name,  as  we  have  others  of  the  same  name 
at  later  dates,  and  they  had  an  estate  on  the  north  of  the  city  as 
well  as  this  on  the  south.  The  church  of  S.  Lorenzo  in  Lucina 
stands  on  part  of  it,  and  that  of  S.  Marcellus  in  the  Corso  is  also 
said  to  have  been  erected  on  that  property,  which  shews  that  it 
was  of  considerable  extent.  Unless  we  admit  the  conjecture  of 
Signor  de  Rossi,  that  Lucina  was  not  the  name  of  an  individual  or 
of  a  family,  but  an  enlightened  lady,  that  is,  a  Christian.  There 
seems  much  probability  in  this  conjecture. 

This  catacomb  was  also  called  after  other  saints  who  were  interred 
here,  S.  Commodilla,  SS.  Felix  and  Adauctus.  It  was  almost  de- 


q  Aquae  Salvias,  now  Tre  Fontane. 
The  tradition  is,  that  S.  Paul  was  be¬ 
headed  on  this  spot ;  that  his  head,  on 
touching  the  ground,  rebounded  twice, 
and  that  a  fountain  immediately  burst 
forth  from  each  place  where  it  fell.  See 
Lumisden’s  “Roman  Antiquities.” 

r  See  the  Section  on  Churches  con¬ 
nected  with  the  Catacombs.  Panvinius 
gives  a  catacomb  of  S.  “Timotheus 


presbyter,”  within  the  church  of  S. Paul. 

8  De  Rossi  conjectures  that  Lucina 
may  possibly  not  be  a  proper  name  or 
family  name,  but  a  title  given  to  more 
than  one  of  the  early  Christian  ladies,  as 
it  literally  signifies  the  enlightened.  It 
seems  improbable  that  the  same  family 
should  have  a  large  territory  on  the 
Campus  Martius  to  the  north  of  the 
city,  and  another  on  the  south  also. 


SECT.  VI.]  Catacomb  of  Lucina  or  S.  Paul. 


69 


stroyed  in  rebuilding  the  church,  and  remains  entirely  filled  up 
with  earth. 

Ciaconius  and  others  consider  that  the  catacomb  of  Lucina  was 
part  of  the  great  cemetery  of  S.  Calixtus,  which  is  between  the  Via 
Appia  and  the  Via  Ardeatina,  and  the  latter  is  but  a  short  distance 
from  the  Via  Ostiensis ;  it  is  quite  possible  that  all  these  catacombs 
were  connected  together  by  subterranean  roads.  Two  of  the  earliest 
Christian  inscriptions  are  from  loculi  or  gravestones  in  this  catacomb, 
a.d.  evil,  and  cxi.,  published  by  Boldetti,  and  in  Signor  de  Rossi’s 
“  Christian  Inscriptions  the  first  was  scratched  upon  the  wet 
plaster,  the  second  was  in  marble  ;  others,  of  the  dates  of  a.d.  235, 
238,  and  249,  shew  that  it  was  in  use  in  the  third  century.  In  the 
cloister  of  the  monastery  of  S.  Paul,  there  are  many  inscriptions 
and  sarcophagi  from  the  catacomb  of  S.  Lucina.  A  large  collection 
of  inscriptions  from  this  catacomb  has  also  been  placed  in  the  walls 
of  a  hall  and  a  lofty  corridor  in  the  monastery  of  S.  Paul,  arranged 
systematically  by  Signor  de  Rossi. 

The  burial-places  or  catacombs  of  S.  Felix,  S.  Adauctus,  and 
S.  Emerita,  were  found  by  Boldetti  and  Marangoni  near  the  church 
of  S.  Paul,  under  the  present  road  that  goes  from  that  church  to 
S.  Sebastian’s.  The  figures  of  the  three  Magi,  with  their  names  over 
them,  were  also  discovered  in  the  same  catacomb,  and  published 
by  Boldetti. 


7  o 


Catacombs. — S.  Domitilla. 


[SECT. 


Via  Ardeatina. 

SS.  Nereus  and  Achilleus. — S.  Domitilla. 

The  very  early  catacomb  of  S.  Domitilla  is  situated  on  the  Via 
Ardeatina,  on  the  western  side  of  the  Via  Appia,  now  at  the  junction 
of  a  cross-road  from  S.  Paul’s  to  S.  Sebastian’s.  It  is  a  part  of  the 
extensive  catacomb  of  SS.  Nereus  and  Achilleus,  and  was  excavated 
about  i860.  The  entrance  to  it  is  perhaps  the  most  remarkable 
feature,  and  throws  considerable  light  on  the  plan  of  the  catacombs 
generally.  It  is  either  from  a  subterranean  road,  or  from  a  foss-way 
20  ft.  below  the  level  of  the  soil,  which  has  been  arched  over  in 
the  Middle  Ages  to  bring  the  road  to  a  level  with  the  ground.  The 
entrance -arch  is  of  excellent  brickwork  of  the  second  century,  or 
earlier.  On  each  side  of  it  is  a  porticus  or  porch,  consisting  of  an 
enclosed  space  arched  over ;  that  on  the  right  hand  for  the  conveni¬ 
ence  of  funerals.  On  the  left  is  a  baptistery  (?),  or  possibly  a  place 
for  washing  the  bodies,  at  the  entrance  to  the  catacomb  in  the 
sand-pit  road,  with  a  well  in  it,  and  a  font  or  stone  vessel  to  hold 
water  supplied  from  the  well,  with  the  place  for  the  pulley  to  draw 
up  water,  and  the  brick  pipe  to  carry  it  into  the  font('?)  on  the 
other  side  of  a  wall  \  This  catacomb  is  of  five  stories  and  of  great 
extent,  and  is  so  near  to  that  of  S.  Calixtus  on  the  Via  Appia,  as  to 
make  it  probable  that  they  have  been  originally  united  by  a  corridor 
or  subterranean  passage ;  but  as  neither  of  these  has  been  fully  ex¬ 
cavated,  this  cannot  at  present  be  decided  one  way  or  the  other.  It 
is  also  so  near  to  S.  Paul’s  on  the  other  side,  as  to  make  it  pro¬ 
bable  that  it  is  the  same  that  was  sometimes  called  the  catacomb 
of  S.  Paul,  or  was  connected  with  it.  The  subterranean  road  before 
mentioned  as  probably  passing  from  the  Caffarella  and  the  church 
of  S.  Urbano,  and  the  tomb  of  Prietextatus,  and  near  to  S.  Sebas¬ 
tian’s,  would  have  led  to  S.  Paul’s,  and  is  probably  part  of  the  same 
road  that  is  here  visible.  This  is,  however,  only  a  conjecture. 

Flavia  Domitilla  was  the  name  of  the  females  of  the  family  of  the 
Emperor  Domitian;  three  generations  of  the  same  name  are  men¬ 
tioned,  and  they  are  believed  to  have  become  Christians  at  a  very 
early  period.  Dion  Cassius  seems  to  support  this  belief,  his  account 
being  that  “  Domitian  put  to  death  several  persons,  and  among  them 
Flavius  Clemens  the  consul,  although  he  was  his  nephew,  and  al- 

1  De  Rossi  considers  this  to  have  cemetery,  a  sort  of  porter’s  lodge,  and 
been  the  habitation  of  a  guard  for  the  it  has  a  good  deal  of  that  appearance. 


VI.] 


Via  A  rd eat  in  a. — 5.  Domitilla. 


7 1 


though  he  had  Flavia  Domitilla  for  his  wife,  who  was  also  a  relation 
of  the  Emperor.  The  charge  of  atheism  was  brought  against  them 
both,  on  which  charge  many  others  had  been  condemned  ;  and 
for  going  after  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  J ews  some  of  them 
were  put  to  death  ;  others  had  their  goods  confiscated,  but  Domi¬ 
tilla  was  only  banished  to  Pandetterra u,  an  island  in  the  gulf  of 
Gaeta,  now  called  Santa  Maria.”  Eusebius  mentions  the  same 
facts,  but  calls  the  island  Pontia.  Some  accounts  make  the 
younger  Domitilla  to  have  been  also  banished  as  well  as  her 
aunt,  and  make  her  the  person  mentioned  by  Eusebius,  who  gives 
the  name  of  Bruttius  for  his  authority  ;  this  name  has  been  found 
in  the  catacomb.  S.  Jerome  mentions  the  island  as  a  place  of 
pilgrimage  in  his  time v.  Inscriptions  have  been  found  which  prove 
that  the  ground  in  which  the  catacomb  is  situated  was  the  property 
of  Flavia  Domitilla.  The  farm  is  now  called  Tor  Marancia,  after 
a  medieval  tower,  as  usual  in  the  Campagna  of  Rome. 

One  of  the  inscriptions  relates  to  a  family  tomb,  and  gives  the 
dimensions  of  the  ground  belonging  to  it,  granted  by  Flavia  Domi¬ 
tilla x  : — 35  ft.  in  front,  and  40  ft.  in  the  field,  (which  is  quite  sufficient 
to  begin  a  catacomb). 

The  earliest  dated  inscription  from  the  catacomb  of  S.  Domitilla 
is  of  a.d.  277,  on  a  gravestone,  with  the  names  of  the  Consuls.  The 
inscription  of  Damasus  is  preserved  in  the  Einsiedlen  manuscript 
[7 1]  y.  Other  inscriptions  found  in  the  catacomb  are  of  Bruttius 
Crispena,  and  of  the  Gens  Bruttii,  and  the  historian  mentioned  by 
Eusebius  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  member  of  this  family. 

SS.  Petronilla,  Flavia  Domitilla,  Nereus  and  Achilleus,  are  also 
said  to  have  been  buried  here  in  separate  chapels,  or  cubicula , 
and  part  of  the  catacomb  is  now  called  by  the  last  two  names. 

There  are  several  painted  cubicula  here,  some  of  which  appear  to 
be  of  the  second  or  third  century ;  but  they  are  for  the  most  part  in 
a  very  decayed  or  mutilated  state.  One  representing  the  four  seasons 
is  better  preserved  than  most  of  the  others,  and  is  very  curious. 


"  Dion  Cassius,  Hist.,  lib.  lxvii.  c.  13. 
v  Hieronymi  epist.  ad  Eustochium,  86. 
x  Ex  indulgentia  Flaviae  Domitilla;, 
neptis  Vespasiani.  Quintilianus  hanc 
memoratin  proem.,  lib.  iv.  Instit.  Orat. 
“  Cum  mihi  Domitianus  Augustus  so- 
roris  suae  nepotum  delegaverit  curam,” 
hoc  est  filiorum  Flaviae  Domitillae,  so- 
roris  Domitiani. 

FLAVIA  DOMITILLA  .  FILIA  .  FLAVIA! 

DOMITILLA! 


IMP.  CA!SARIS  [VESPASl]ANI .  NEPTIS  . 

FECIT  .  GLYCERA  .  I.  ET 
LIBERTIS  .  LIBERTABVSQVE  .  EORVM  . 
CVRANTE 

T.  FLAVIO  .  ONESIMO  .  CONIVGI  . 
BENEMERENT. 

(Grater,  Inscriptiones  Antiquac,  p. 
ccxlv.  No.  5.) 

y  His  own  catacomb  was  on  this 
road  ;  see  our  Chronological  Table, 
A.D.  367. 


72 


Catacombs. — S.  Domitilla. 


[SECT.  vi. 


Spring  and  Summer  are  represented  as  female  figures  with  wings,  so 
small  as  to  look  almost  like  butterflies’  wings  attached  to  their 
shoulders,  and  each  with  an  attendant  genius.  There  is  nothing 
that  appears  to  be  specially  Christian  in  the  painting  of  this 
chamber.  Other  chambers  contain  the  usual  Scripture  subjects, 
such  as  the  Good  Shepherd,  Moses,  Daniel,  Jonah,  Adam  and  Eve. 
Several  of  these  are  of  later  date.  One,  probably  of  the  sixth  cen¬ 
tury,  has  the  portrait  of  a  young  man  in  a  medallion ;  he  is  in 
a  costume  resembling  that  of  a  cardinal,  and  is  supported  by  two 
Apostles,  one  on  either  side,  no  doubt  SS.  Peter  and  Paul. 

This  catacomb  is  perhaps  on  the  whole  the  finest  and  the  best- 
preserved  of  all  in  their  present  state1.  It  was  restored  by  John  I., 
a.d.  523,  as  mentioned  in  our  Chronological  Table,  and  many  of 
the  paintings  are  of  that  period. 

The  catacomb  of  S.  Nicomedes,  built  by  Boniface  V.,  a.d.  619,  is 
mentioned  by  Panvinius  as  at  the  seventh  mile  on  the  Via  Ardeatina. 

*  The  catacomb  of  Nereus  and  Achil-  restitutum  a  Papa  Joanne.”  See  also 
leus  is  desci'ibed  by  Panvinius  as  “in  our  Chronological  Table,  A.D.  523  and 
prsedio  S.  Domitillse,  in  crypta  Harena-  705.  SS.  Marcus  and  Marcellinus,  in  the 
ria  (Arenaria),  lapide  ab  urbe  secundo,  same  road,  was  also  restored  by  John  VII. 


VIA  APPIA. 


“  The  eleventh  is  called  the  Appian  gate  and  way.  There  lie  S.  Sebastian  and 
Quirinus,  and  originally  the  bodies  of  the  Apostles  rested  there.  A  little  nearer 
Rome  are  the  martyrs  Januarius,  Urbanus,  Zeno,  Quirinus,  Agapetus,  Foelicis- 
simus  ;  and  in  another  church,  Tyburtius,  Valerianus,  Maximus.  Not  far  distant 
is  the  church  of  the  martyr  Cecilia,  and  there  are  buried  Stephanus,  Sixtus,  Zeffe- 
rinus,  Eusebius,  Melchiades,  Marcellus,  Eutychianus,  Dionysius,  Antheros,  Ponci- 
anus,  Pope  Lucius,  Optacius,  Julianus,  Calocerus,  Parthenius,  Tharsicius,  Polita- 
nus,  martyr.  There,  too,  is  the  church  and  body  of  S.  Cornelius,  and  in  another 
church,  S.  Sotheris.  And  not  far  off  rest  the  martyrs  Hyppolitus,  Adi'ianus,  Euse¬ 
bius,  Maria,  Martha,  Paulina,  Valeria,  Marcellus ;  and  near,  Pope  Marcus  in  his 
church.  Between  the  Appian  and  Ostiensian  way,  is  the  Ardeatine  way,  where 
are  S.  Marcus  and  Marcellianus.  And  there  lies  Pope  Damasus  in  his  church, 
and  near  him  S.  Petronilla,  and  Nereus  and  Achilleus  and  many  more*.” 

This  great  high  road  to  the  south  was  celebrated  for  the  number 
of  martyrs  who  were  executed  upon  it,  and  buried  in  the  catacombs 
on  either  side  of  it.  According  to  Bosio  and  Aringhi b,  four  thou¬ 
sand  (1)  were  executed  under  Hadrian,  a.d.  119,  on  this  road  alone, 
amongst  whom  were  Marcellus,  the  priest,  and  Decoratus,  the 
deacon,  whose  bodies  were  burnt ;  their  day  is  kept  on  the  7th  of 
October,  and  the  legend  is  given  in  the  acts  of  S.  Sophia.  This 
legend  appears  very  improbable,  and  not  consistent  with  the  mild 
character  of  Hadrian,  as  given  by  his  biographer :  there  was  no  per¬ 
secution  of  the  Christians  in  his  time  ;  on  the  contrary,  he  gave  per¬ 
fect  toleration,  and  even  favoured  them,  and  ordered  temples  to  be 
built  in  every  city  of  the  Empire  without  images ,  in  order  that  the 
Christians  might  worship  in  them,  as  stated  by  Lampridius c. 

The  next  martyrs  said  to  have  been  executed  on  this  road  are 
Lucilla  the  virgin,  and  her  father,  Nemesius  the  deacon,  who  were 
beheaded  in  front  of  the  Temple  of  Mars,  between  the  Via  Appia 
and  the  Via  Latina,  where  there  was  a  place  of  public  execution. 
Their  bodies  are  said  to  have  been  first  buried  by  S.  Stephen  on  the 
Via  Latina,  a.d.  257,  and  then  translated  into  the  cemetery  of  Calix- 
tus  by  Sistus,  Sustus,  or  Xystus  II.,  a.d.  258. 

We  have,  next,  mention  of  thirty  Christian  soldiers  and  athletes 
executed  in  the  tenth  persecution,  under  Diocletian,  a.d.  284;  then 
of  the  virgins  Felicula  and  Petronilla,  whose  bodies  were  interred  by 

*  Will.  Malmesb.,  ed.  Hardy,  vol.  ii.  sima,  lib.  ii.  c.  19. 
p.  425.  e  Lampridius,  Alexander  Severus, 

b  Aringhi,  Roma  Subterranea  novis-  c.  45.  See  above,  p.  23. 


74 


Catacombs. — S.  Sebastian. 


[sect. 


SS.  Nereus  and  Achilleus,  themselves  afterwards  martyrs;  this  is  re¬ 
corded  in  their  Acta.  Then,  under  Julian  the  Apostate,  Sempronius 
and  Aurelianus,  with  several  other  soldiers,  were  beheaded,  and 
their  bodies  interred  by  the  faithful  in  a  certain  square  crypt  (in 
crypta  quadrata )  near  the  Catacombs.  This  square  crypt  is  also 
mentioned  in  the  Acta  of  S.  Urban d;  it  is  there  likewise  called 
a  cave  (antrum  quadratum). 


S.  Sebastian6. 

The  church  of  S.  Sebastian  stands  in  the  centre  of  the  district 
called  “  The  Catacombs,”  and  near  the  Circus  of  Maxentius  and  the 
tomb  of  his  son  Romulus,  which  are  described  as  in  “  The  Cata¬ 
combs f.”  It  is  quite  possible  that  it  was  the  original  entrance  to 
all  those  in  that  district. 

For  this  reason  S.  Sebastian’s  was  long  considered  to  have  been 
The  Catacomb  par  eminence ,  the  earliest  of  the  Catacombs,  and 
was  confused  with  the  ancient  cemetery  of  Calixtus,  made  by  Ca- 
lixtus  I.,  a.d.  219,  as  recorded  by  Anastasiusg.  Calixtus  was  himself 
buried  in  the  cemetery  of  Calepodius,  three  miles  from  Rome,  on 
the  Via  Aurelia,  (where  the  church  of  S.  Pancratius  was  afterwards 
erected),  probably  because  his  new  burial-vault  or  chapel  in  this 
cemetery  was  only  begun  and  not  ready  for  use  at  the  time  of  his 
death.  The  recent  investigations  of  Signor  de  Rossi h  have  also 
shewn  that  the  catacomb  of  S.  Calixtus  is  distinct  from  that  of 
S.  Sebastian,  and  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  nearer  to  Rome,  occu¬ 
pying  another  hillock.  It  is,  however,  probable  that  this  catacomb, 
although  now  divided  into  two,  was  originally  connected,  and  that 


d  Bolland.  Acta  Sanctorum  Mail,  die 
25,  tom.  v.  p.  471 — 488. 

e  See  the  church  of  S.  Sebastian  in 
the  Section  on  “  Churches  connected 
with  the  Catacombs.” 

f  The  word  ‘  ‘  Catacomb  ”  may  origi- 
ginally  have  meant  a  hollow  or  valley, 
or  perhaps  the  particular  valley  in  which 
the  Circus  of  Maxentius  was  made.  It 
might  not  have  had  originally  anything 
specially  to  do  with  a  burial-place. 
This  agrees  with  the  words  of  the 
Catalogue  of  Roman  Emperors  pub¬ 
lished  by  Jo.  Georg.  Eccard,  “Max¬ 
entius  .  .  .  Termas  in  Palatio  fecit,  et 
Circum  in  Catecumpas.”  Corp.  hist. 
Med.  A£vi,  &c.  Lipsise,  1723,  folio, 
vol.  i.  p.  31,  col.  2. 


e  The  cemetery  or  catacomb  of  S. 
Sebastian  was  restored  by  Pascal  I., 
a.d.  772. 

h  See  de  Rossi’s  Roma  Sotterranea 
Cristiana,  folio,  Roma,  1864 — 68,  and 
his  Bullettino  di  Archeologia  Cristiana , 
4to.,  Roma,  1863 — 1870. 

See  also  the  great  French  work  of 
Perret,  in  which  the  plates  are  rather 
theatrical  for  the  English  taste,  being 
too  highly  coloured  ;  but  in  many  in¬ 
stances  the  outlines  were  traced  from 
the  originals  :  the  pencil  lines  over  some 
of  the  figures  to  strengthen  the  outlines, 
made  by  the  French  artists,  may  be  seen 
in  the  Catacombs.  A  list  of  the  sub¬ 
jects  engraved  in  these  works  will  be 
found  in  our  Appendix. 


VI.] 


Via  Appia. — S.  Sebastian. 


75 


the  entrance  was  at  S.  Sebastian’s ;  but  there  must  have  been  a  cata¬ 
comb  here  before  the  time  of  Calixtus,  as  Bishop  Anacletus,  a.d. 
175,  was  buried  at  S.  Sebastian’s.  According  to  the  legend,  the 
bodies  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul  the  Apostles  were  deposited  for 
a  time  in  the  chapel  at  the  entrance  to  this  catacomb,  called  the 
Platonia,  because  the  walls  were  covered  with  marble  plates.  The 
inscription  of  Damasus 1  shews  that  this  legend  was  believed  in  the 
fourth  century. 

The  present  appearance  of  the  catacomb  of  S.  Sebastian,  like  most 
of  the  others,  is  lamentable  and  desolate  in  the  extreme ;  stripped  of 
every  tombstone  and  of  everything  possessing  the  slightest  interest,  it 
now  consists  only  of  a  number  of  narrow  passages  cut  out  of  the  sand¬ 
stone  rock,  with  long  narrow  holes  in  the  walls  on  each  side,  just 
large  enough  to  have  served  originally  for  bodies,  but  with  nothing  to 
indicate  that  they  had  ever  been  applied  to  that  use.  A  chapel  said  to 
have  contained  the  tombs  of  Popes  is  there,  but  with  no  sort  of  evidence 
that  such  was  its  purpose.  The  visitor  is  obliged  to  put  implicit  faith  in 
the  assurances  of  the  guide  that  such  and  such  a  hole  formerly 
contained  the  tomb  of  such  and  such  a  pope,  or  saint,  or  martyr, 
or  all  three  combined.  The  indications  of  the  tombs  of  martyrs 
seem  extremely  doubtful  and  unsatisfactory,  as  every  tomb  has 
been  rifled  alike.  Whether  its  occupant  was  pope,  bishop,  saint,  or 
martyr,  there  is  nothing  whatever  now  to  indicate ;  it  must  all  be 
taken  on  trust  as  an  article  of  faith,  and  a  very  unnecessary  trial 
of  faith.  That  all  the  persons  buried  here  were  saints  or  martyrs, 
is  a  gratuitous  assumption ;  that  the  relics  of  all  the  persons  buried 
in  a  public  cemetery  for  centuries  worked  miracles,  is  incredible; 
and  this  too  great  claim  upon  faith  does  in  effect  only  shake  it,  and 
make  stronger  evidence  necessary  for  belief.  The  popular  story  that 
the  bodies  of  174,000  martyrs  were  found  in  this  catacomb,  throws 
doubt  upon  the  whole. 

The  following  places  of  pilgrimage  on  this  road  are  recorded 
in  the  Einsiedlen  manuscript  of  the  eighth  century :  Soter,  Xystus, 
Urbanus,  Marcellianus  and  Marcus,  Januarius,  and  the  church 


'  There  are  two  inscriptions  of  Da¬ 
masus  from  this  catacomb,  one  of 
which  is  given  in  the  Einsiedlen  manu¬ 
script,  and  will  be  found  in  our  Ap¬ 
pendix,  beginning  “Hichabitare  prius 
the  other  is  given  by  Gruter,  p.  MCLXXI. 
No.  3  - 

SANCTORUM  QUICUMQUE  LEGIS  VE- 
NERARE  SEPULCRUM, 


NOMINA  NEC  NUMERUM  POTUIT  RE- 
TINERE  VETUSTAS. 

ORNAVIT  DAMASUS  TUMULUM  COG- 
NOSCITE  RECTOR, 

PRO  REDITU  CLERI  CHRISTO  PRA> 
STANTE  TRIUMPHANS, 
MARTYRIBUS  SANCTIS  REDDIT  SUA 
VOTA  SACERDOS. 


76 


Catacombs. — S.  Prcetextatus. 


[SECT. 


where  S.  Xystus  was  beheaded,  Sebastian.  The  inscription  of  Dama- 
sus  from  this  catacomb  is  preserved  in  that  Chronicle k. 


Prcetextatus,  sometimes  called  S.  Urban’s. 

According  to  the  Bollandists  *,  S.  Calixtus  was  bishop  five  years 
and  two  months,  in  the  time  of  Macrinus  and  Heliogabalus,  a.d.  218 
to  222.  S.  Urban  succeeded  to  him  from  222  to  230;  he  was  be¬ 
headed  on  the  25th  of  May  on  the  Via  Appia,  according  to  the 
Martyrology  of  Bede.  Many  martyrs  were  executed  on  the  Via  No- 
mentana  in  the  persecution  of  Alexander,  in  the  time  of  S.  Urban, 
and  were  buried  in  the  cemetery  of  Prsetextatus  on  the  Via  Appia. 
S.  Urban  resided  on  the  Via  Appia  near  the  catacombs  of  the  mar¬ 
tyrs,  where  a  church  was  afterwards  dedicated m  in  his  honour,  on  the 
side  of  a  certain  hill,  near  the  fountain  commonly  called  Caffarella. 
On  this  road  was  also  the  house  of  Carpasius  Vicarius,  who  had 
ordered  the  execution  of  Urbanus  and  his  companions  near  the 
palace  of  Vespasian.  Marmenia,  the  wife  of  Carpasius,  was  moved 
by  their  sufferings  and  fortitude,  and  became  converted  to  the  faith. 
She  translated  the  bodies  of  S.  Urban  and  his  companions  to  her 
own  house ;  afterwards  she  herself  was  a  martyr,  with  her  daughter 
Lucina ;  and  twenty-two  servants  were  added  to  the  number  of  con- 


k  The  following  inscription  is  in  the 
church  of  S.  Sebastian,  and  is  printed 
in  Aringhi,  lib.  iii.  c.  11,  §20: — 

HOC  EST  COEMETERIVM  CALLISTI 
PAP^E  ET  MARTYRIS 
INCLYTI.  QVICVNQVE  ILLVD 
CONTRITVS  ET  CONFESSVS 
INGRESSVS  FVERIT,  PLENAM 
REMISSION  EM  OMNIVM  PECCATORVM 
SVORVM  OBTINEBIT, 

PER  MERITA  GLORIOSA  CENTVM 
SEPTVAGINTA  QVATVOR  MILLIVM 
SANCTORVM  MARTYRVM, 

VNA  CVM  QVADRAGINTA  SEX 
SVMMIS  PONTIFICIBVS, 
QVORVM  IBI  CORPORA  IN  PACE 
SEPVLTA  SVNT, 

QVI  OMNES  EX  MAGNA  TRIBVLATIONE 
VENERVNT,  ET  VT  HAJREDES 
FIERENT  IN  DOMO  DOMINI, 
MORTIS  SVPPLICIVM  PRO  CHRISTI 
NOMINE  PERTVLERVNT. 

1  “De  Sanctis  Martyribus  Romanis, 
Urbano  Romano  Pontifice,  Mami- 
liano,  Joanne,  Chromatio,  Dionysio, 
Prelsb.  Martiale,  Eunuchio,  Luciano, 


Diaconis,  Anolino  Commentariensi, 
Marmenia,  matrona  ;  Lucinia,  virgine, 
ejus  filia ;  Aliis  xxii,  item  xlii,  item 
quinque  millibus ;  et  Savino  in  carcere 
extincto.  Item  alio  Sancto  Urbano, 
Roma  Catalaunum  in  Gallias  translato. 
Commentarius  prsevius.  §  1.  Varia 
acta  martyrii :  aliqua  hie  edita,  reliqua 
omissa.  Actorum  Appendix.  Annoccxxx. 
Quamplurima  extant  in  pervetustis  co- 
dicibus  MSS.  Acta  martyrii  S.  Urbani 
Papse  :  quibus  inseruntur  prseclara  cer- 
tamina  aliorum  athletarum,  in  titulo 
prsefixo  nominatorum.  Antonius  Bosius 
....  asserit  se  ilia  reperisse  in  tribus 
antiquis  egregiis  manuscriptis  exempla- 
l'ibus  bibliothecae  Vatican®  .  .  .  ea  fu- 
isse  per  Notarios  Ecclesiee  Roman® 
conscripta.”  (Acta  Sanctorum  Maii, 
die  25,  tom.  vi.  p.  5.) 

m  This  church  was  not  built  in  his 
honour,  but  dedicated  only,  and  that 
long  afterwards.  It  was  an  ancient 
tomb  of  the  first  century.  See  the 
Section  on  “Churches  connected  with 
the  Catacombs.” 


VI.] 


Via  Appia. — Prcztextatus. 


77 


verts  and  martyrs,  and  their  bodies  were  deposited  in  the  same 
vault. 

The  companions  of  S.  Urban  were  four  priests  and  their  deacons, 
the  priests  being  Maximilianus,  Joannes,  Chromatius,  and  Dionysius  ; 
the  deacons  were  Martialis  or  Martimalis,  Mutius  or  Eunuchius,  and 
Lucianus,  who  were  all  buried  by  Marmenia  in  a  square  cave 
strongly  built.  Lucianus  is  also  said  to  have  been  buried  in  the 
cemetery  of  Prcetextatus ;  S.  Anolinus  was  the  jailor,  and  was  con¬ 
verted  by  S.  Urban  during  his  captivity.  According  to  the  legend 
of  S.  Cecilia,  she  told  her  husband  Valerianus  that  if  he  would  go 
to  the  third  mile  on  the  Via  Appia,  he  would  see  an  angel  of  God 
who  would  purify  him.  He  there  found  S.  Urban  dwelling  among 
the  sepulchres  of  the  martyrs,  surrounded  by  the  poor ;  he  was  con¬ 
verted  and  baptized,  and  afterwards  brought  his  brother  Tiburtius, 
who  was  also  baptized.  S.  Urban  is  said  to  have  been  seized  in  the 
house  of  S.  Cecilia  by  Almachius,  the  prsefect,  and  put  to  death. 

The  catacomb  of  S.  Prastextatus 11  is  situated  on  a  cross  -  road 
from  S.  Sebastian’s  to  S.  Urban’s,  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Via 
Appia.  This  catacomb  is  also  part  of  a  very  extensive  series,  and 
has  extended  on  both  sides  of  the  cross-road ;  there  are  entrances 
through  the  cliffs  on  both  sides  of  this  subterranean  road  or  foss- 
way.  There  is  great  appearance  of  an  original  entrance  to  a  cata¬ 
comb  through  the  building  which  is  now  the  Church  of  S.  Urban, 
which  must  have  been  either  that  of  Praetextatus,  or  one  very 
near  to  it,  and  probably  connected  with  it  by  a  sand-pit  road. 
The  small  chapel  under  the  altar,  called  the  confessio ,  is  at  a  much 
greater  depth  than  a  confessio  usually  is,  and  also  has  the  ap¬ 
pearance  of  having  been  originally  one  of  the  small  chapels  on 
the  staircase  at  a  landing-place,  similar  to  the  one  we  have  re¬ 
maining  at  S.  Sebastian  on  the  staircase  to  the  platonia ,  which 
was  the  original  entrance  to  the  catacomb  there  also  °.  The 


n  A  virgin  martyr  named  Praetestata 
was  buried  there  A.  D.  461.  The  in¬ 
scription  on  her  tomb  is  preserved  in 
the  Lateran  Museum,  and  was  pub¬ 
lished  by  Signor  de  Rossi  in  his  Bullet- 
tino ,  anno  1,  p.  74. 

S.  Praetextatus,  bishop  of  Rome  and 
Martyr,  is  mentioned  by  Gregory  of 
Tours,  writing  about  A.  D.  580,  and  in 
the  Martyrologium.  See  also  our  Chro¬ 
nological  Table,  A.  D.  259. 

Gregory  of  Tours  mentions  another 
Praetextatus,  Archbishop  of  Rouen  under 
Chilperic  I.  (a. d.  577)-  See  D.  Bou¬ 


quet,  Recueil  des  historiens  des  Gaules 
et  de  la  France,  vol.  ii.  pp.  243 — 246, 
&c.  Praetextatus  was  a  surname  given 
to  a  very  clever  boy  of  the  gens  Pa- 
piria.  See  Aul.  Gell.,  Noct.  Att.,  1.  i. 
c.  23,  and  Macrob.,  Saturn.,  c.  6. 

0  But  it  is  stated  that  excavations  round 
the  church,  made  under  the  direction 
of  Signor  de  Rossi,  have  proved  that 
there  is  no  communication  from  the 
staircase  to  any  catacomb,  and  that  it 
only  descends  to  an  ancient  tomb.  There 
is,  however,  a  sand-pit  near  this  church, 
with  a  subterranean  road  in  the  direc- 


78 


C a  tacom  bs. — P  net  ext  a  tus . 


[SECT. 


painting  in  the  small  chapel  or  confessio  is  of  the  eighth  century, 
when  this  catacomb  was  restored  for  the  pilgrims.  It  represents 
Christ  between  two  saints,  S.  Urban  and  S.  Joannes.  The  paintings 
on  the  two  sides  of  the  church  or  tomb  (?)  are  also  very  much  in 
the  style  of  some  of  those  in  the  Catacombs,  but  not  of  the  same 
period  as  the  one  in  the  crypt  before  mentioned.  These  at  the 
two  ends  of  the  church  have  been  restored,  but  the  others  have 
not.  Some  say  that  this  church  was  originally  a  Temple  of  Bac¬ 
chus,  on  the  authority  of  an  altar  found  in  it,  and  are  of  opinion  that 
it  was  one  of  the  temples  built  by  Hadrian  without  images,  in  order 
that  they  might  be  used  by  the  Christians,  because  there  are  no 
niches  for  images ;  but  the  architectural  character  of  the  con¬ 
struction  is  earlier  than  the  time  of  Hadrian,  and  it  seems  more 
probable  that  it  was  a  hypogeum  or  sepulchre  of  some  great  family 
of  the  first  century. 


The  present  entrance  to  this  catacomb  is  through  a  sand-pit,  and 
the  covered  road  may  have  been  originally  a  sand-pit  road  ;  but  the 
highly-finished  brickwork  on  each  side  does  not  make  this  probable. 
The  two  ends  being  both  filled  up  with  earth,  nothing  certain  can 
be  ascertained  at  present  (1869). 

There  are  many  instances  of  small  Catacombs  as  family  burying- 
places  under  a  tomb,  or  to  which  the  entrance  is  through  one, 
as  on  the  Via  Latina  in  two  or  more  instances.  A  tomb  recently 
excavated  at  Cento-Celle,  and  remaining  open,  approaches  close  to 
this  combination.  In  one  of  the  large  sepulchres  full  of  columbaria , 
on  the  Via  Appia  near  the  Porta  di  S.  Sebastiano,  there  is  a  passage 
leading  to  a  catacomb,  as  if  this  tomb  continued  in  use  after  the 
fashion  had  changed,  and  the  bodies  were  interred  whole  instead 
of  the  burnt  ashes  only.  In  many  instances  these  two  modes  of  in¬ 
terment  have  evidently  been  carried  on  simultaneously,  and  both 
are  provided  for  in  the  same  burial-place. 

The  family  or  gens  of  Pretextatus p  is  said  to  have  been  one  of  the 


tion  of  the  catacomb  of  Proetextatus, 
which  extends  to  some  distance,  and 
is  then  closed  by  a  modern  brick  wall, 
near  to  which  are  some  loculi  cut  in  the 
rock  on  the  sides  of  the  road.  This 
was  probably  one  of  the  entrances  to 
the  great  Catacomb. 

11  This  family  is  also  said  to  have 
had  many  magistrates  among  its  mem¬ 
bers,  as  we  find  in  Macrobius’s  Sa¬ 
turnalia:  “  Saturn alibus  apud  Vectium 


Pnetextatum  Romance  nobilitatis  proce- 
res  doctique  alii  congregantur.  .  .  .  (Lib. 
i.  cap.  1.)  Cum  Servius  ista  dissereret, 
Prsetextatus  Avienum  Eustathio  insussu- 
rantem  videns,”  &c.  (Ibid.,  lib.  vi.  c.  7. ) 
There  are  also  said  to  have  been  several 
martyrs  of  this  family,  one  in  the  time  of 
Anacletus,  A.D.  78,  the  brother  of  the 
Virgin  Lucina,  mentioned  in  the  Acts 
of  S.  Sophia.  Another,  the  father  of  S. 
Anastasia,  is  mentioned  in  the  Martyr • 


VI.] 


Via  Appia. — Pr<ztextatus. 


79 


great  and  illustrious  families  of  Rome  in  the  time  of  the  early  Em¬ 
perors,  and  is  supposed  to  have  become  Christian  at  an  early  period. 
Their  catacomb  or  cemetery  is  repeatedly  mentioned  as  the  burial- 
place  of  many  martyrs.  It  is  described  by  Onuphrius  Panvinius  as 
to  the  left  of  the  Via  Appia,  which  agrees  with  the  one  here  de¬ 
scribed  ;  but  Bosio  and  Aringhi  consider  it  the  same  as  that  of 
S.  Calixtus,  which  is  to  the  right  of  the  high  road.  It  has  been  con¬ 
jectured  that  all  the  catacombs  or  cozmeteria.  on  this  road  were 
connected  together  by  the  subterranean  sand-pit  roads,  and  none  of 
these  cemeteries  are  more  than  half-a-mile  from  the  high-road. 

According  to  Aringhi,  the  earliest  martyr  recorded  to  have  been 
buried  in  the  cemetery  of  Prsetextatus  was  Quirinus  the  Tribune,  ex¬ 
ecuted  under  Aurelian  on  the  3rd  of  April,  a.d.  272,  one  day  before 
his  daughter,  Balbina q.  After  them,  on  the  18th  of  May,  SS.  Tiburtius, 
Valerianus,  Maximus,  and  subsequently  S.  Urbanus  underwent  the 
same  fate.  These  are  said  to  have  been  buried  in  the  upper  corridor 
(in  superiore  ccenaculo ),  a.d.  223 — 230,  and  his  attendant  clerks,  SS. 
Joannes,  Chromatius,  Dionysius,  Martialis,  Eunuchus,  Lucianus,  to 
have  been  buried  at  the  same  time  in  the  lower  corridors.  At  a  later 
period,  on  August  8,  S.  Systus  or  Sixtus  II. r,  with  his  attendant  dea- 


ologium  Romanum.  Another,  in  the 
time  of  Gordianus  II.,  a.d.  238,  is  men¬ 
tioned  by  Julius  Capitolinus,  by  Am- 
mianus  Marcellinus  (lib.  xxvii.  c.  9),  and 
Jerome  (ep.  ad  Pammach.  61);  and 
there  was  a  statue  of  him  in  Rome, 
mentioned  also  by  Macrobius,  of  which 
the  base  is  in  the  garden  of  the  Villa 
Mattei,  on  the  Ccelian. 

Ludwig  Iahn  has  devoted  a  long  note 
to  Prsetextatus  and  his  family  in  his 
edition  of  Macrobius’s  Works  (Quedlin- 
burg  and  Leipzig,  1848,  8vo.),  Prolego¬ 
mena,  pp.  xxii.-xxiv. 

1  A  sarcophagus  of  the  date  of  A.D. 
273  was  found  in  this  catacomb,  accord¬ 
ing  to  Signor  de  Rossi ;  it  seems  pro¬ 
bable  from  the  coincidence  of  the  dates 
that  this  was  the  one  in  which  these 
martyrs  were  interred. 

r  The  accounts  given  of  S.  Sixtus  or 
Xystus  are  very  unsatisfactory,  and  in 
some  points  contradictory.  There  were 
two  early  bishops  of  Rome  of  the  same 
name,  both  reckoned  as  saints  and 
martyrs.  There  is  no  contemporary 
history  of  either,  and  in  the  legends  re¬ 
specting  them,  it  is  evident  that  the 
two  are  confused  together.  Sixtus  the 
Second,  who  lived  in  the  third  century, 
is  considered  as  the  more  important 


saint ;  he  is  commemorated  in  the  Ro¬ 
man  Martyrology  on  the  6th  of  August, 
and  the  Bollandists  have  collected  all 
the  legends  that  are  extant,  but  they  do 
not  solve  the  mystery  and  confusion. 
The  only  original  authority  respecting 
him,  is  S.  Cyprian,  who  says  in  one 
of  his  letters  that  he  was  beheaded ; 
but  Prudentius,  in  one  of  his  hymns 
(Peristeph.  hymn.  ii.  v.  22),  says  that 
he  was  crucified.  Among  the  legends 
one  account  says  that  he  was  be¬ 
headed  in  the  catacombs  of  S ■  Calix¬ 
tus,  and  this  is  the  one  adopted  in  the 
modern  Roman  Martyrology.  Another 
version  is  that  he  was  beheaded  in  the 
catacomb  of  Prcctextatus,  with  the  at¬ 
tendant  deacons  and  sub-deacons,  Feli- 
cissimus,  Agapitus,  and  others,  who  were 
buried  in  that  catacomb,  according  to 
the  inscription  put  up  by  Pope  Dama- 
sus  in  the  fourth  century.  If  we  refer 
to  the  Martyrology  of  Ado,  this  execu¬ 
tion  took  place  under  Decius  and  Vale¬ 
rian,  a.d.  257,  but  in  the  Greek  Martyr¬ 
ology  S.  Sixtus  is  said  to  have  been  put 
to  death  with  S.  Hippolytus  on  the  loth 
of  August.  Usuardus  relates  that  he  was 
beheaded  on  the  Via  Appia,  and  Euno- 
dius,  in  one  of  his  hymns  (sixth  century), 
says  that  S.  Laurence  built  a  church  in 


8o 


Catacombs. — Prcetextatus. 


[SECT. 


cons  and  sub-deacons,  Felicissimus,  Agapitus,  Januarius,  Magnus, 
Vincentius,  and  Stephanus,  beheaded  by  Valerian,  a.d.  259,  are  re¬ 
corded  by  an  inscription  of  Damasus  to  have  been  also  buried  here. 
Another  tombstone,  with  the  date  of  a.d.  291,  was  discovered  on 
the  same  spot.  The  invocations  to  some  of  these  saints  found  by 
De  Rossi  scratched  on  the  plaster  round  a  grave,  identify  this  cata¬ 
comb  as  that  of  Praetextatus,  and  one  of  the  numerous  inscriptions 
of  Damasus  relating  to  S.  Systus,  printed  by  Baronius  and  reprinted 
by  Aringhi,  as  in  this  catacomb,  agrees  with  this. 

This  cemetery,  or  a  part  of  it,  was  also  called  after  S.  Balbina. 
S.  Marcus,  the  bishop,  a.d.  337,  is  recorded  to  have  built  a  church 
to  her  honour,  and  to  have  been  buried  in  it  himself ;  but  the  ex¬ 
pression  used  in  the  Acta  Marty  rum  agrees  with  his  having  rebuilt  or 
enlarged  the  burial-vault  or  chapel  only :  as  these  are  sometimes 
called  Basilica ,  they  may  also  have  been  called  Ecclesia.  One  of 
the  verse  inscriptions  of  Damasus 8  relates  to  S.  Marcus.  The  dis¬ 
covery  of  Signor  de  Rossi  in  this  catacomb,  that  the  arch  of  an  arco- 
solium  over  a  stone  coffin  of  the  first  century  had  been  turned  into 
the  entrance  to  a  burial-vault  or  chapel  in  the  fourth,  seems  to  ex¬ 
plain  the  difficulty :  such  a  vault,  with  an  altar  in  it,  would  very 
probably  be  afterwards  called  a  church  (ecclesia).  His  remains  are 
said  to  have  been  found  in  the  cemetery  of  Balbina,  in  the  time  of 
Pope  Hildebrand,  or  Gregory  VII.,  a.d.  1080,  and  translated  to  the 
church  of  S.  Mark  of  Venice,  near  the  Capitol. 

Signor  de  Rossi  considers  the  three  catacombs  of  S.  Calixtus, 
Praetextatus,  and  S.  Sebastian,  as  quite  distinct  from  each  other, 
and  that  S.  Sebastian’s  was  the  only  one  to  which  the  name  of  cata¬ 
comb  was  originally  applied.  Whether  these  cemeteries  were  ori¬ 
ginally  connected  by  sand-pit  roads  or  not,  may  fairly  be  left  an  open 
question,  to  be  decided  only  by  further  excavation ;  that  they  are  at 
present  distinct  is  evident.  That  of  Praetextatus  we  have  men¬ 
tioned  as  on  a  cross-road,  which  leaves  the  Via  Appia  on  the  hill 
after  passing  the  small  church  or  chapel  of  Domine  quo  vadis,  and 


his  honour.  The  most  probable  account 
seems  to  be  that  he  was  executed  on  the 
usual  place  of  public  executions,  in  front 
of  the  temple  of  Mars,  between  the  Via 
Appia  and  the  Via  Latina,  and  that  the 
church  now  called  S.  Sisto  Vecchio  was 
built  on  the  spot.  He  is  mentioned 
both  by  S.  Jerome  and  by  S.  Augustine. 

In  the  Mirabilia  (thirteenth  century), 
he  is  said  to  have  been  “beheaded  out¬ 
side  of  the  Porta  Appia,  near  the  ‘  Do¬ 
mine  quo  vadis,’  where  was  the  temple 
of  Mars,  hollowed  out  in  front  of  S.  Ne- 


reus.”  In  another  passage  of  the  Mira¬ 
bilia,  the  palace  of  the  Senate,  near 
S.  Sixtus,  is  mentioned.  This  could  not 
apply  to  the  catacombs  at  a  distance 
from  the  city. 

*  ET  DAMASUS  TUMULUM  CUM  RED- 
DIT  HONOREM 

HIC  MARCUS  MARCI  VITA  FIDE  NO¬ 
MINE  CONSORS 
ET  MERITIS. 

(Gruter,  Inscr.  Ant.,  p.  MCLXXIII. 
No.  12.) 


VI.] 


Via  Appia. — Prcetextatus. 


81 


leads  to  the  Via  Appia  Nova,  passing  by  the  end  of  the  Circus 
of  Maxentius  and  the  church  of  S.  Urban ;  it  runs  for  some  dis¬ 
tance  between  two  vineyards;  in  that  on  the  right  are  the  Jews’ 
catacomb  and  remains  of  a  series  of  Pagan  tombs,  shewing  that 
this  cross-road  is  an  old  one.  In  the  vineyard  on  the  left  are 
many  fragments  of  sculpture,  chiefly  Christian ;  this  is  popularly 
called  casa  dei  pupazzi.  Here  also  are  the  ruins  of  a  large  cir¬ 
cular  tomb,  and  another  of  rectangular  form.  Near  these  ruins  is 
a  very  ancient  staircase,  descending  to  a  Christian  catacomb,  and  in 
excavations  under  them,  in  1848,  a  figure  of  S.  Sixtus  was  found 
painted  in  a  cubiculum ,  with  his  name  inscribed  in  Latin  letters,  svstvs, 
from  which  it  was  called  the  Catacomb  of  S/Sixtus.  In  1850,  another 
painted  chamber  of  early  character  was  discovered  near  the  foot  of  the 
stairs.  Six  years  afterwards,  the  principal  entrance  was  found  with  two 
churches  open  above,  and  below  these  are  extensive  subterranean 
passages  and  crypts.  One  of  the  churches  is  believed  to  have  been 
the  burial-place  of  SS.  Tiburtius,  Valerianus,  and  Maximus,  com¬ 
panions  of  S.  Cecilia;  the  other,  that  of  S.  Zeno.  In  the  crypts  below 
were  buried  S.  Januarius,  S.  Felicissimus,  and  Agapitus,  deacons  of 
S.  Sixtus ;  Urbanus,  Bishop  of  Rome  ;  Quirinus,  the  Tribune,  and 
other  martyrs.  This  is  therefore  considered  by  Signor  de  Rossi 
as  identified  with  the  cemetery  of  S.  Prastextatus  and  Januarius.  It 
is  described  by  Boldetti,  under  the  name  of  S.  Urban,  being  very 
near  the  church  called  S.  Urbano  alia  Caffarella,  and  supposed  also 
to  be  the  place  where  he  was  concealed  during  a  time  of  persecution. 

This  is  also  said  to  be  the  catacomb  in  which  S.  Sixtus  II.  was  be¬ 
headed  t.  According  to  the  legend,  he  was  performing  mass,  and  the 
executioner  waited  until  he  had  finished.  This  would  be  in  the  chapel 
at  the  entrance  to  the  catacomb,  and  the  large  square  chamber  at  the 
entrance  to  this  catacomb  seems  a  probable  spot  for  this  scene  to 
have  taken  place ;  but  the  legends  on  this  subject  are  rather  contra¬ 
dictory.  Some  accounts  state  that  S.  Sixtus  was  beheaded  at  the 
usual  place  of  public  execution  in  front  of  the  Temple  of  Mars,  and 
was  only  buried  in  this  catacomb. 

The  principal  entrance  u  to  this  catacomb  from  the  sand-pit  road 
has  a  crypto-porticus ,  or  a  space  arched  over  on  each  side  for  the 
convenience  of  funerals,  when  it  was  an  open  road  to  a  sand-pit,  as 
at  S.  Domitilla ;  but  there  is  no  baptistery  here.  This  crypto-porticus 
is  apparently  from  the  construction  of  the  third  century,  not  of 
the  first. 

t  Anastas.,  25  ;  Aringhi,  lib.  ii.  c.  9.  anno  I,  p.  20,  4to.  1863  ;  and  another  of 

u  There  is  a  wood-engraving  of  this  this  chamber,  p.  3. 
entrance  in  Signor  de  Rossi’s  Bullettino, 

G 


82 


Catacombs. — Prcetextatus. 


[SECT. 


Signor  de  Rossi  found  in  this  catacomb,  in  1857,  a  fine  lofty 
square  chamber  not  excavated,  but  built  with  a  luminary  at  the  top. 
The  vault  is  painted  with  leaves  and  flowers,  and  birds,  of  earlier 
character  than  any  painting  hitherto  found  in  the  Catacombs,  agree¬ 
ing  in  character  with  Pagan  art  of  the  second  century.  The  foli¬ 
age  of  the  vine  spreads  over  the  whole  vault,  and  on  one  part  is 
a  vigneron  or  grape-gardener,  either  cultivating  the  vine  or  gathering 
grapes.  All  the  paintings  are  very  small,  and  very  elegant,  quite  in 
the  style  of  the  best  classical  period,  but  with  nothing  distinctly 
Christian  about  them,  although  an  allegorical  meaning  may  be 
attached  to  them,  the  little  birds  being  considered  to  represent 
souls,  which  is  a  customary  allegory.  On  one  side  is  a  corn-field, 
with  five  reapers,  one  cutting,  another  gathering  up  the  sheaves, 
a  third  with  a  rake,  a  fourth  with  a  flail,  and  the  fifth  with  a  sheal 
upon  his  shoulders.  On  the  back  wall,  under  the  arch  of  an  arco- 
soliurn ,  is  a  figure  cut  through  in  the  middle  by  an  aperture  for  a  grave, 
said  to  be  a  Good  Shepherd,  but  very  indistinct,  with  an  inscription 
on  the  margin  : — 

REFRIGERI  .  IANVARIVS  .  AGATOPVS  .  FELICISSIMVS  .  MARTYRES. 

This  inscription  in  later  characters,  of  the  end  of  the  fourth  cen¬ 
tury,  shews  the  desire  to  bury  some  one  near  those  martyrs,  who  are 
thus  addressed  in  the  name  of  the  defunct.  This,  therefore,  identifies 
the  crypta  quadrata  in  which  these  martyrs  were  interred.  The  desire 
to  be  buried  near  the  body  of  a  martyr  prevalent  at  that  period,  is 
well  known,  and  is  expressed  by  S.  Ambrose  in  his  hymn  on  the 
burial  of  his  brother  Satyrus,  on  the  left  of  the  martyr  Victor v. 

This  celebrated  square  crypt  is  described  by  ancient  authors  as 
built,  not  merely  excavated,  and  ornamented  with  marble  plates,  and 
under  a  building  called  the  house  of  Marmenia,  near  the  palace  of 
Vespasian.  It  is  known  that  this  name  was  given  in  the  Middle 
Ages  to  the  buildings  adjoining  the  Circus  of  Maxentius,  originally 
called  after  his  son  Romulus,  and  now  miscalled  of  Caracalla.  The 
crypt  re-discovered  and  excavated  by  Signor  de  Rossi  is  very  near 
to  these  ruins,  between  them  and  the  church  of  S.  Urbanus,  scarcely 
more  than  a  hundred  yards  from  either.  The  materials  excavated 
were  chiefly  ruins  of  some  ancient  building  thrown  in  from  above, 


v  VRANIO  SATYRO  SUPREMUM  FRATER 
HONOREM 

MARTYRIS  AD  LAJVAM  DETULIT  AM- 
BROSIUS. 

IEEC  MERITI  MERCES  EST  SACRI  SAN¬ 
GUINIS  HUMOR, 

FINITIMAS  PENETRANS  ABLUAT  EX- 
UVIAS. 


S.  Augustine  also  concludes  his  book 
De  cura  pro  mortuis  gerenda,  with  these 
words  :  ‘  ‘  Quod  vero  quisque  apud  me- 
morias  martyrum  sepelitur,  hoc  tantum 
mihi  videtur  prodesse  defuncto,  ut  com- 
mendans  eum  etiam  martyrum  patro- 
cinio,  affectus  pro  illo  supplicationis 
augeatur.  ” 


VI.] 


Via  A ppia. — Prcetextatus. 


83 


down  the  luminary  or  well  for  air  and  light;  these  ruins  were,  with¬ 
out  doubt,  those  of  the  house  of  Marmenia,  in  which  was  probably 
one  of  the  burial-chapels  usual  at  the  entrances  to  the  Catacombs. 

The  family  to  which  this  great  villa  belonged  was  evidently  one 
of  considerable  wealth  and  importance ;  it  seems  probable  that  the 
whole  of  this  ground  belonged  to  them,  and  that  this  crypt  was  origi¬ 
nally  their  family  burying-place.  They  may  have  become  Christians  at 
an  early  period ;  but  it  is  remarkable  that  there  is  nothing  distinctly 
Christian  in  the  early  paintings  on  the  vault,  and  the  Good  Shepherd, 
the  head  of  which  De  Rossi  believes  that  he  found  upon  the  wall,  is 
not  necessarily  Christian.  There  are  no  original  arco-solia  nor  loculi 
in  the  walls  of  this  square  chamber ;  the  interments  were  in  stone 
sarcophagi,  three  of  which  were  found  in  it  by  De  Rossi :  this  does 
not  agree  with  the  legend  that  the  square  crypt  was  built  by  Mar¬ 
menia  to  receive  the  remains  of  S.  Urbanus,  and  that  six  other 
martyrs  were  interred  in  the  upper  part  above  him. 

There  are  several  other  painted  cubicula  and  arco-solia  in  this 
catacomb,  but  of  much  later  character.  In  a  chamber  near  to 
the  principal  entrance,  a  few  yards  farther  along  the  road,  is  a 
marble  sarcophagus  of  excellent  sculpture,  agreeing  with  the  same 
period ;  it  is  mutilated,  but  some  of  the  figures  are  perfect  and  dis¬ 
tinctly  Pagan.  Nearly  opposite  to  this  second  chamber,  a  little 
further  along  the  road,  is  another  cubiculum ,  the  entrance  arch  of 
which  is  of  still  earlier  character,  and  of  finer  brickwork  than  the 
rest,  being  entirely  of  the  character  of  the  time  of  Nero,  so  well 
known  from  his  palace  and  his  arches.  In  the  chamber  to  which 
this  arch  opens,  Signor  de  Rossi  found  another  sarcophagus,  which 
he  considers  as  clearly  one  of  a  Christian  martyr  of  the  first  century  ; 
he  believes  that  it  was  originally  built  into  the  wall  under  the  arch, 
that,  at  a  subsequent  period,  the  chamber  was  made  behind  this 
arch,  and  the  sarcophagus  was  moved  and  placed  in  an  arco-solium 
at  the  back  of  the  chamber,  in  order  that  other  persons  might  be 
buried  in  the  chamber  near  the  martyr,  which  was  considered  a  great 
honour  and  privilege.  This  particular  cubiculum  was,  therefore,  not 
a  family  burial-vault  like  those  in  S.  Priscilla.  At  a  short  distance 
along  the  road,  on  the  same  side  as  the  principal  entrance,  is  a  door¬ 
way  with  a  pediment  of  the  same  period  over  it;  this  has  been 
mutilated  and  restored,  but  carefully,  the  original  part  preserved 
and  replaced,  and  no  attempt  made  to  copy :  therefore  this  is  pro¬ 
perly  preservation  rather  than  restoration,  and  is  very  creditable  to 
Signor  de  Rossi,  under  whose  direction  it  was  done. 

In  the  time  of  Gregory  IIP,  a.d.  740,  it  was  called  the  ceme- 


G  2 


84 


Catacoin  bs.  — Prat  ext  a  tus . 


[SECT. 


tery  of  S.  Januarius  and  S.  Urbanus.  Under  Hadrian  I.,  a.d. 
772,  it  was  named  after  S.  Urbanus  and  S.  Tiburtius,  S.  Marcus, 
and  S.  Balbina  ;  each  of  these  was  probably  buried  in  a  distinct  vault 
or  cubiculum. 

Marcus  I.,  a.d.  336,  built  a  church  or  chapel  over  that  part  of 
this  catacomb  which  contained  the  body  of  S.  Balbina,  which  was 
endowed  with  land  by  Constantine w.  This  church  was  restored 
a.d.  731  and  857. 

This  catacomb,  in  the  larger  sense  of  the  word,  has  only  been 
partially  excavated ;  it  is  now  divided  into  several  parts,  and 
called  by  different  names,  after  different  martyrs  who  have  been 
buried  in  it.  The  corridor  where  the  Gnostic  paintings  are,  the 
entrance  to  which  is  on  the  other  side  from  the  Via  Appia,  near 
the  Jews’  catacomb,  is  also  said  to  have  originally  formed  part 
of  it.  It  is  described  by  Bosio,  on  the  authority  of  Cencius,  the 
chamberlain,  as  situated  between  the  Porta  Appia  and  the  church 
of  S.  Apollinaris  %  and  to  have  been  connected  with  those  of 
S.  Sixtus  and  S.  Csecilia.  It  is  called  in  another  document y  the 
cemetery  of  S.  Sixtus  or  S.  Praetextatus,  outside  of  the  Porta  Appia, 
on  the  Via  Appia. 

One  of  the  galleries  or  corridors  is  simply  an  old  sand-pit  still, 
out  of  which  the  Pozzolana  sand  has  been  dug  and  carried.  In  this 
corridor  there  are  no  graves ;  it  is  merely  a  passage  leading  to  the 
earliest  part  of  the  catacomb,  which  is  probably  of  the  first  century. 
After  the  first  gallery  or  corridor  was  filled  to  the  limits  of  the  hill 
or  of  the  prcedium  (1),  another  was  made  below  it.  Probably  it 
Avould  take  a  century  or  more  to  fill  each  one  of  these  corridors; 
and  when  all  the  coemeteria  or  side-chapels  were  sold,  even  if  they 
were  not  filled,  the  owners  of  the  ground  would  make  another  cor¬ 
ridor  at  a  lower  level,  and  in  this  the  paintings  would  be  naturally, 
and  are  in  this  instance,  of  a  later  period.  In  a  rough  way,  as 
has  been  said,  it  may  be  reckoned  that  each  corridor  took  about 
a  century  to  be  filled,  or  occupied,  or  for  the  ground  to  be  sold. 
In  this  catacomb  there  are  five  corridors,  one  under  the  other.  The 
upper  one  is  an  old  sand-pit ;  then  two  corridors  for  graves  with 
side-chapels ;  then,  singularly  enough,  another  old  sand-pit,  without 
graves,  forming  the  fourth  corridor,  the  entrance  to  which,  at  a  lower 
level,  is  a  quarter  of  a  mile  off ;  then  a  fifth  corridor,  of  graves  and 


w  Anastasius,  in  c.  xxxv.  49,  says  this 
was  in  the  Via  Arcleatina,  that  is,  in  the 
catacomb  now  called  after  Domitilla  ; 
in  c.  xcii.  20  d,  he  calls  it  in  the  Via 
Appia,  this  was  in  a.d.  731. 


x  Of  that  church  no  remains  are 
known  to  exist.  May  not  this  be  the 
church  now  called  S.  Urban’s? 

v  Codex  Vaticanus,  apud  De  Rossi. 


VI.] 


Via  Appia. — Prcetextatus. 


85 


chapels.  But  some  of  the  paintings  in  the  lower  corridor  and  its 
chapels  are  of  the  eighth  century ;  they  are  not  painted  on  a  fresh 
coat  of  plaster  over  old  paintings,  but  are  original.  Surely  some  of 
these  chapels  for  family  burying-places  are  the  ccemeteria  which  Pope 
Paschal  says  he  made1 ;  the  frescoes  being  of  his  time,  a.d.  772  \ 

In  some  excavations  made  under  the  direction  of  Signor  de  Rossi 
in  1870  in  this  catacomb,  another  long  corridor  was  found  by  the 
side  of  the  entrance,  with  loculi  and  a  large  chapel  with  a  well  and 
an  arco-solium ,  and  a  sarcophagus  with  a  graffito  of  the  name  of 
lvcentivs,  and  the  salutation — 

LVCENTI  VIVAS 

In  another  cubiculmn  there  is  a  bas-relief  in  marble  of  Daniel 
and  the  lions. 

Another  catacomb  on  the  Via  Appia,  which  now  has  a  separate 
entrance,  but  which  had  a  communication  with  that  of  Praetextatus, 
is  usually  called  the  catacomb  of  the  Gnostics ;  but  is  now  said  to 
be  that  of  another  sect,  that  of  Mithras. 

The  paintings  clearly  shew  that  it  was  not  a  Christian  burying- 
place.  An  account  of  it  has  been  published  by  Father  Marchi b, 
who  discovered  it  in  1826,  and  distinctly  proved  that  they  are 
Pagan  (although  they  had  been  published  by  Bottari  as  Christian). 
In  his  work  on  the  remains  of  Early  Christian  Art,  Marchi  describes 
other  Pagan  catacombs  also  :  a  small  one  which  was  found  on  the 
Via  Latina,  at  a  mile  and  a-half  from  Rome,  in  1851,  by  Dom.  Fran¬ 
cesco  Virili,  in  his  vineyard,  and  was  shewn  to  Father  Marchi,  and 
recognised  by  him  as  Pagan  ;  another,  on  the  Via  Salaria  Vecchia, 
at  a  mile  from  the  Porta  Pinciana,  which  had  been  described  by 
Seroux  d’Agincourt  as  Christian ;  at  length  a  third  and  larger  one 
in  the  Monte  d’Oro,  between  the  Porta  Latina  and  the  Porta  Appia, 
within  the  walls  of  Rome,  and  near  the  Columbaria  in  the  Vigna 
Codini.  In  1852,  Father  Garrucci  also  published  at  Naples  his 
Dissertation  on  the  Tombs  of  the  Worshippers  of  the  Persian  god 
Mithras,  and  of  the  Bacchus  Sabazius.  Their  paintings  were  also 
described  by  Signor  de  Rossi  in  1853°. 


z  See  Anastasius  in  the  Life  of  Pas¬ 
chal  I. 

*  For  a  more  full  account  of  the  paint¬ 
ings  in  this  catacomb,  see  the  Appendix 
to  this  chapter,  in  the  abstract  of  Perret, 
vol.  i.,  plates  35  to  85. 

b  See  “La  Civilta  Cattolica,”  anno 
1 853,  pp.  462,  464.  C.  “Monumenti 
delle  Arti  Christiane  primitive,”  and 
“Tre  sepolcri  con  pitture  ed  iscrizioni 
appartenenti  alle  superstitione  pagane 


del  Bacco  Sabazio  e  del  Perso  dio 
Mitra,  scoperti  in  un  braccio  del  cimi- 
tero  di  Pretestato  in  Roma,”  &c.  Na¬ 
poli,  1852. 

c  Bullettino  di  Correspondenza  Arch- 
eologica,  1853,  pp.  87,  93. 

Father  Garrucci  also  published  an  ac¬ 
count  in  French,  with  the  title,  “Les 
Mysteres  du  Syncretisme  phrygien  dans 
les  catacombes  de  Pretextat.”  8vo. 
Paris,  1852. 


86 


Catacom  bs.  — Prcetexta  tus. 


[SECT. 


In  the  first  tomb,  or  arco-solium ,  on  the  left  hand  under  the  arch, 
is  the  figure  of  a  woman,  called  Yibia,  snatched  up  by  Pluto,  who  is 
represented  in  a  quadriga,  guided  by  Mercury,  who  leads  his  victim 
to  the  shades  below.  Over  the  picture  is  the  inscription  abreptio 
VIBIES  ET  DESCENSIO. 

In  the  second  picture  under  the  arch,  Pluto,  called  dispater, 
with  his  companion,  abracvra,  is  seated  on  an  elevated  tribunal  to 
judge  the  rest.  On  the  right,  under  his  feet,  are  three  figures,  two 
women  and  one  man,  and  over  their  heads  is  the  inscription  fata 
divina  ;  on  the  other  side  Mercury,  mercvrivs  nvntivs,  guides  to 
the  judgment  vibia,  followed  by  alcestis. 

On  the  lunette  at  the  back  are  two  pictures  :  in  the  one,  vibia, 
introduced  to  the  dinner  of  the  happy  regions,  indvctio  vibies,  led 
by  the  hand  by  angelvs  bon  vs.  And  in  the  other  picture  is  the 
dinner,  with  six  persons,  Vibia  in  the  centre.  Over  the  heads  of 
these  persons  is  written,  bonorvm  ivdicio  ivdicatio. 

In  another  picture  are  represented  the  seven  priests  of  the  god 
Mithras,  their  heads  covered  with  the  Phrygian  cap.  Over  one  is  the 
name  vincentivs,  and  over  the  whole  septe  sacerdotes. 

On  the  wall  outside  of  the  arch  is  another  inscription,  in  an  imper¬ 
fect  state ;  the  deficiencies  have  been  supplied  by  Father  Garrucci  : 

VINCENTI  HOC  OStiuS  QVETES,  QVOT  VIDES  .  PLVRES  ME  ANTECESSERVNT, 

OMNES,  EXPECTO 

MANOVCAVIBELVOEE  BENI  ATME  .  CVM  VIBES  .  BENE  PAC. 

HOC  .  TECVM  FERES. 

NVMINIS  .  ANTISTES  .  SABAZIS  .  VINCENTIVS.  HlC  est  VI 
SACRA  SANCTA 
DEVM  MENTE  PIA. 

CollT. 

Opposite  to  this  monument  is  another,  with  pictures,  but  without 
inscriptions.  There  are  figures  in  military  costumes,  a  woman  with 
a  crown  of  laurel,  a  man  with  a  beard,  who  holds  up  on  high  in  his 
right  hand  a  lamb,  killed,  and  points  to  five  stars  which  shine  in  the 
sky  with  a  Venus  Caslestis.  Lastly,  on  a  third  tomb,  with  an  arch, 
one  fragment  of  another  inscription  : — 

p.  M. 

M.  AVR . S  .  D  .  S  .  I  .  M. 

QVI  BASIA  .  VOLVPTATES,  IOCVM  ALVMNIS  .  SVIS  .  DEDIT. 

VT  LOCV . E  ET  NATIS  SVIS 

. EN  LOCVS  .  CARICI. 

. SOPROLES. 


VI.] 


Via  Appia. — 5.  Calixtus . 


87 


S.  Calixtus  d. 

to 

This  is  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  catacombs ;  it  is  mentioned  at 
a  very  early  period  as  a  burying-place  then  in  use,  not  as  being 
then  just  made.  Michele  de  Rossi,  in  the  course  of  his  investiga¬ 
tions  in  this  catacomb,  found  a  brick  staircase  and  some  brick  loculi , 
evidently  an  alteration  of  and  addition  to  the  original  catacombs, 
and  the  stamps  on  these  bricks  were  those  of  Marcus  Aurelius, 
a.d.  161 — 180.  This  staircase  is  in  the  lower  part  of  the  catacomb, 
made  for  the  purpose  of  enlarging  it,  and  seems  to  shew  that  the 
ground  had  been  used  as  a  cemetery  in  the  first  century.  The 
original  part  was  probably  made  before  there  were  any  Christians  to 
be  buried.  Although  the  staircase  is  later,  and  the  bricks  used  again, 
they  were  probably  found  on  the  spot e. 

Calixtus  is  said  to  have  been  entrusted  with  the  government  of 
the  clergy,  and  set  over  the  cemetery  by  Zephyrinus  his  predecessor, 
before  he  became  bishop  or  popef.  This  expression,  over  the  cemetery, 
seems  to  prove  that  the  whole  of  the  catacombs  were  considered  as 
one  cemetery,  and  that  he  had  the  general  superintendence  of  the 
burial  of  the  Christians. 

This  is  the  catacomb  usually  exhibited  to  strangers  and  now  used 
for  pilgrimages ;  its  present  state  is  very  uninteresting  to  the  archae¬ 
ologist.  The  upper  part  of  it  nearest  to  the  entrance  has  been  so 
much  restored  that  it  has  lost  all  archaeological  importance.  The  paint¬ 
ings  in  this  part  have  all  been  renewed,  and  thereby  of  necessity 
have  lost  all  historical  value.  This  portion  of  the  catacomb  is 
illuminated  on  certain  occasions,  and  is  employed  to  excite  the 
devotion  of  the  faithful.  A  low  mass  is  said  at  an  altar  fitted  up 
in  the  cemetery  chapel  of  S.  Caecilia,  on  the  anniversary  of  her 
martyrdom,  and  this  part  of  the  catacomb  on  that  occasion  is  illu¬ 
minated  with  candles. 

The  other  parts  are  in  the  usual  state,  stripped  of  nearly  every  in¬ 
scription,  and  the  graves  empty.  The  earliest  inscription  from  this 
catacomb,  of  ascertained  date,  is  of  a.d.  268  or  279;  it  is  dated  by 


d  For  a  full  account  of  this  catacomb, 
see  the  great  work  of  Signor  de  Rossi, 
Roma  Sotterranea,  in  two  folio  volumes, 
mentioned  and  referred  to  several  times 
in  this  chapter.  See  also  our  Chrono¬ 
logical  Table,  a.d.  233. 

e  De  Rossi  found  both  Pagan  sar¬ 
cophagi  and  Pagan  inscriptions  in  this 
catacomb,  in  excavations  made  under 


his  own  eyes.  {Roma  Sotterranea ,  vol. 
ii.  pp.  169,  281,  290.) 

1  Santi  Bartoli,  in  his  Memorie,  (ap. 
Fea,  Miscellanea,  p.  245),  relates  that 
in  his  time,  in  some  excavations  made 
in  this  catacomb,  several  tombs  or  sar¬ 
cophagi  were  found,  among  them  one 
that  was  gilt  (un  sepolcro  tutto  messo 
ad  oro). 


88 


Catacombs. — .S'.  Calixtus. 


[SECT. 


the  names  of  the  consuls,  which  would  apply  to  either  of  these  two 
dates.  One  important  inscription  of  Bishop  Damasus  is  preserved, 
and  is  valuable  in  many  ways ;  it  shews  that  the  cemetery  chapel, 
in  which  it  was  found,  was  made  in  his  time,  and  the  slab  of 
marble  on  which  it  is  engraved  has  a  Pagan  inscription  on  the 
back  of  it,  evidently  proving  that  it  was  used  merely  as  a  slab 
of  marble,  without  reference  to  that  inscription.  It  shews  for  what 
purpose  some  of  the  Pagan  inscriptions  found  in  the  Catacombs 
may  have  been  brought  there®.  Some  of  the  original  paintings11 
remain  in  the  lower  part  of  this  catacomb  that  have  not  been 
restored’,  and  these  are  of  the  usual  subjects:  Daniel  and  the 
two  lions,  Moses  striking  the  rock,  the  raising  of  Lazarus,  &c. 
Some  of  these  are  probably  of  the  fourth  century,  and  some 
much  later.  Three  figures  of  Popes,  with  their  names  to  them 


8  Two  small  and  very  curious  tomb¬ 
stones,  consisting  of  mosaic  pictures  said 
to  have  been  taken  from  this  catacomb, 
are  now7  preserved  in  the  sacristy  of  the 
church  of  S.  Maria  in  Trastevere.  They 
were  for  some  centuries  in  the  nave, 
built  into  one  of  the  piers ;  but  dur¬ 
ing  the  restorations  made  in  1868-76, 
they  were  removed  and  built  into  the 
wall  of  the  sacristy.  One  represents  a 
landscape,  with  buildings  in  the  style 
of  the  third  century,  and  a  harbour  or 
a  lake  with  a  vessel,  and  fishermen  drag¬ 
ging  in  a  great  net,  evidently  intended 
for  the  miraculous  draught  of  fishes.  This 
is  an  extremely  curious  mosaic  picture, 
the  probable  date  of  which  is  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  the  fourth  century.  The  other 
small  mosaic  represents  birds  of  vari¬ 
ous  kinds,  and  is  much  earlier  than  the 
view  of  the  harbour,  perhaps  as  early  as 
the  first  century.  Possibly  the  birds 
were  intended  to  be  symbolical  of  the 
souls  of  the  faithful.  These  are  engraved 
by  Ciampini  in  his  work  on  Mosaics. 

h  Bosio  gives,  on  eight  plates,  en¬ 
gravings  of  a  number  of  vases  and  lamps 
found  in  this  catacomb,  several  views  of 
cubicula,  and  upwards  of  seventy  paint¬ 
ings.  The  same  subjects  have  been  re¬ 
peated  by  Perret  and  Signor  de  Rossi. 
(See  Appendix.) 

1  There  are  still  persons,  both  in  Eng¬ 
land  and  on  the  Continent,  who  re¬ 
commend  and  practise  the  restorations 
of  ancient  buildings,  paintings,  and 
sculptures.  Tt  is  evident  that  a  work 
which  has  been  restored  becomes  the 
work  of  the  hands  that  restored  it. 
However  good  the  copy  may  be,  it 
is  a  copy  still,  and  can  never  be  the 


same  thing  as  the  original.  Archae¬ 
ologists  require  to  see  the  works  of 
each  generation  of  man,  and  learn  to 
distinguish  one  from  the  other  by  ex¬ 
perience  and  careful  observation.  It 
has  long  been  very  positively  asserted  by 
persons  supposed  to  be  well  informed 
on  the  subject,  that  a  great  part  of  the 
fresco  paintings  in  this  catacomb  are 
modern  restorations.  But  those  who 
had  the  direction  of  the  work  for 
the  Pope,  and  who  must  know  the 
truth,  assert  positively  that  this  was  not 
the  case,  that  the  paintings  have  not 
been  restored  in  their  time,  nor  in  that 
of  their  predecessor,  Padre  Marchi ;  they 
are  not  modern  imitations,  but  are  left 
as  they  were  found.  That  several  of 
them  are  works  of  the  ninth  century  is 
extremely  probable,  almost  certain ; 
they  are  probably  part  of  the  numerous 
restorations  of  the  Popes  after  the  siege 
by  the  Lombards,  when  the  catacombs 
were  so  much  damaged  intentionally, 
but  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
there  is  any  pious  fraud  in  this  case.  It 
is  singular  that  the  figure  of  S.  Cyprian, 
an  African  bishop  and  martyr,  is  given 
with  others  as  if  he  had  been  buried 
here,  which  is  extremely  improbable. 
He  was  a  friend  and  correspondent  of 
one  of  the  bishops  of  Rome,  who  was 
also  a  martyr,  and  this  has  probably  led 
to  the  mistake.  On  the  subject  of  the 
restoration  of  these  paintings,  see  Mr. 
St.  John  Tyrwhitt’s  Essay  in  the  Appen¬ 
dix  to  the  Chapter  on  Tombs  in  this 
work.  The  Tombs  and  the  Catacombs 
should  always  be  taken  together ;  every 
catacomb  was  a  tomb,  though  all  tombs 
had  not  catacombs  under  them. 


VL] 


Via  Appia. — 5.  Calixtus. 


89 


written  vertically  instead  of  horizontally,  Cornelius,  Sixtus,  Marcus, 
are  part  of  the  restorations  of  Leo  III.,  a.d.  855  ;  the  character  of 
the  drawing  and  painting,  and  of  the  inscription,  agrees  perfectly 
with  the  mosaic  pictures  of  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries,  in  the 
churches  of  S.  Mark,  a.d.  828,  S.  Maria  in  Domnica,  S.  Prassede, 
and  S.  Caecilia,  all  of  which  are  dated  examples  of  the  ninth  century. 

According  to  the  legends,  the  chapel  in  which  S.  Stephen k  was 
beheaded  by  order  of  the  Emperor  Valerian  was  in  the  catacomb  of 
S.  Calixtus  :  if  so,  his  seat  must  have  been  a  moveable  piece  of  fur¬ 
niture,  not  cut  out  of  the  rock.  The  catacomb  in  which  he  had 
preached,  and  baptized  so  many  persons,  must  have  been  that  on  the 
Via  Ardeatina,  where  the  well  and  the  font  may  still  be  seen  in 
the  sand-pit  road,  by  the  side  of  the  entrance  to  the  Catacombs. 
There  is  another  well,  with  steps  down  into  it,  for  baptism  by  im¬ 
mersion,  in  the  catacomb  of  S.  Pontianus,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Tiber,  with  a  painting  of  the  baptism  of  Christ  over  it ;  but  that 
painting  is  of  the  eighth  century,  made  for  the  pilgrims,  and  is  no 
evidence  that  it  was  in  use  at  this  period,  while  the  one  on  the  Via 
Ardeatina  is  of  early  date.  The  remains  of  this  seat  are  said  to  have 
been  translated  by  Paul  I.,  a.d.  757 — 768,  along  with  those  of  S.  Sil¬ 
vester,  to  the  new  church  of  S.  Silvestro  in  capite ,  Via  Lata ,  in  the 
Campus  Martius,  which  he  had  just  built  at  the  foot  of  the  Pin- 
cian  Hill,  and  are  said  on  an  inscription  there  of  1596,  when 
Clement  VII.  restored  the  church,  to  have  been  still  deposited  under 
the  high  altar.  But  the  church  of  S.  Martin  and  Silvester  on  the 
Esquiline  also  lays  claim  to  them. 

This  catacomb  was  sometimes  called  after  S.  Lucina,  S.  Zephyrinus, 
S.  Hippolytus,  S.  Xistus  or  Sixtus,  S.  Csecilia,  S.  Soter,  all  of  whom 
are  said  to  have  been  buried  here  in  their  different  cubicula. 

Part  of  the  present  cemetery  of  S.  Calixtus  was  at  one  period 
separate  from  it,  and  was  called  “  the  Crypt  of  Lucina  near  to  the 
cemetery  of  Calixtus.”  De  Rossi  has  shewn  by  an  inscription,  that 
this  was  the  tomb  of  the  Gens  Csecilia,  with  their  family  catacomb 
under  it.  The  frontage  to  the  road  was  100  ft.,  and  the  sides  in  the 
field  were  230  ft.  There  are  ruins  of  the  tomb,  which  he  thinks  was 
probably  Christian,  and  he  cites  Tertullian  as  evidence  that  the 
Christians  had  tombs  and  mausoleums  from  the  first  *.  The  great  apo¬ 
logist  here  quotes  Isaiah,  (chap.  xxvi.  ver.  20,)  “  Come,  my  people, 
enter  thou  into  thy  chambers,  and  shut  thy  doors  about  thee  :  hide 

k  See  the  Church  of  S.  Stephen  in  de  cellariis  non  aliud  effertur,  quam  quod 
Section  II.  of  this  Chapter.  infertur  ;  et  post  Antichristi  eradicatio- 

1  “ . .  .  et  quse  enim  ab  ira  Dei  cellari-  nem  agitabitur  resurrectio. ”  (Tertulliani 
orum  nos  refugia  servabunt  ?  . . .  Nam  et  Liber  de  Resurrectione  carnis,  c.  27. ) 


90 


Catacombs. — 5.  Calixtus. 


[SECT. 


thyself  as  it  were  for  a  little  moment,  until  the  indignation  be  over¬ 
past.”  Tertullian  applies  this  text  to  the  cellars  or  crypts  provided 
for  depositing  the  bodies,  and  he  mentions  also  the  embalming  of  the 
bodies  as  a  custom  of  his  time  m,  the  beginning  of  the  third  century. 
Various  inscriptions  of  the  Gens  Cascilia  have  been  found  in  this  crypt, 
and  De  Rossi  says  they  were  all  Christian,  although  a  distinctly  Pagan 
sarcophagus,  which  is  engraved  in  his  work,  and  copied  by  Dr.  North- 
cote  (p.  232),  was  found  in  this  crypt.  The  crypt  of  Saint  Cmcilia 
is  distinct  from  this,  and  adjoins  the  crypt  of  the  Pope.  The  crypt 
of  S.  Cornelius,  re-discovered  by  Signor  de  Rossi,  is  also  now  part 
of  this  great  cemetery;  it  is  between  that  of  Lucina  and  that  of 
Calixtus.  Fragments  of  two  inscriptions  were  found  here,  which 
are  put  together  with  much  ingenuity,  and  shew  that  a  staircase  to 
this  crypt  had  been  begun  by  Damasus  when  in  his  last  illness,  and 
finished  by  his  successor  Siricius11.  The  painting  of  S.  Cornelius, 
found  at  the  same  time,  is  part  of  the  restoration  of  Leo  III. 

The  crypt  of  S.  Soter  now  also  forms  part  of  the  catacomb  of 
S.  Calixtus.  She  was  buried  in  her  own  cemetery ,  coemeterio  suo  (evi¬ 
dently  a  burial-vault  in  this  instance),  a.d.  304,  and  the  Itineraries 
mention  a  separate  church  (or  chapel)  erected  in  her  honour  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  S.  Calixtus,  yet  distinct  from  it.  The  two  ceme¬ 
teries  or  crypts  were  distinct ;  but  there  was  a  passage  from  one  to 
the  other,  probably  from  the  beginning.  This  crypt  has  not  yet 
been  fully  excavated. 

The  cemetery  or  crypt  of  S.  Balbina  is  in  the  same  immediate 
neighbourhood ;  it  is  placed  by  some  of  the  Itineraries  in  the  Via 
Appia,  by  others  on  the  Via  Ardeatina ;  it  is  really  between  the  two 
roads,  and  was  probably  always  connected  with  the  others  by  the 
subterranean  roads. 

S.  Soter  and  S.  Zephyrinus  are  reckoned  by  Panvinius  as  distinct 

m  “  Proinde  enim  et  corpora  medicata  umentis  sequestrantur,  processura  inde 
condimentis  sepultura  mausoleis  et  mon-  cum  jusserit  dominus.” 

■>  “  ASPICE,  DESCENSU  EXSTRUC7Y?  TENEBRISQUE  FUGATIS 
CORNELI  MONUMENTA  VIDES  TUMUL  UMQUE  SACRATUM. 

HOC  OPUS  ALGROTI  DAM  AS  I  PR  TESTA  NT  I  A  FECIT , 

ESSET  UT  ACCESSUS  MELIOR,  POPULISQUE  PARATUM 
AUXILIUM  SANCTI,  ET  VALEAS  SI  FUNDERE  PURO 
CORDE  PRECES,  DAMASUS  MELIOR  COATS  UR  GERE  POSSET, 

QUEM  NON  LUCIS  AMOR,  TENUIT  MAGE  CURA  LABORIS.” 

“  Behold  !  a  way  down  has  been  constructed,  and  the  darkness  dispelled  ;  you 
see  the  monuments  of  Cornelius,  and  his  sacred  tomb.  This  work  the  zeal  of 
Damasus  has  accomplished,  sick  as  he  is,  in  order  that  the  approach  might  be 
better,  and  the  aid  of  the  saint  might  be  made  convenient  for  the  people  ;  and  that, 
if  you  will  pour  forth  your  prayers  from  a  pure  heart,  Damasus  may  rise  up  in 
better  health,  though  it  has  not  been  love  of  life,  but  care  for  work,  that  has  kept 
him  [here  below].  ” 


VI.] 


Via  Latina. — 5.  Calixtus . 


91 


catacombs  on  the  Via  Appia ;  they  are  now  considered  part  of 
S.  Calixtus  °. 


Via  Latina. 

“The  eighth  is  the  gate  of  S.  John,  which  by  the  ancients  was  called  As- 
senaria. 

“The  ninth  gate  is  called  Metrosa  ;  and  in  front  of  both  these  runs  the  Latin 
Way. 

“The  tenth  is  called  the  Latin  gate  and  way.  Near  this,  in  one  church,  lie  the 
martyrs  Gordianus  and  Epimachus,  Sulpicius,  Servilianus,  Quintinus,  Quartus, 
Sophia,  Triphenus.  Near  this,  too,  in  another  spot,  Tertullinus,  and  not  far  dis¬ 
tant,  the  church  of  S.  Eugenia,  in  which  she  lies,  and  her  mother  Claudia,  and 
pope  Stephen,  with  nineteen  of  his  clergy,  and  Nemesius  the  deacon  p.” 

These  three  roads  meet,  and  become  the  Via  Latina;  this  road 
crosses  the  Via  Appia  Nova,  and  runs  on  the  eastern  side  of  the 
Via  Appia  Antiqua,  and  not  distant  from  it  for  the  first  mile  or  two 
from  Rome. 

Fabretti,  in  his  work  on  Inscriptions  (c.  viii.),  mentions  the  dis¬ 
covery  of  catacombs  on  the  Via  Latina,  one  of  which  he  considers 
to  be  that  of  Tertullinus,  and  gives  a  plan  of  it. 

On  the  Via  Appia  Nova,  at  the  fourth  mile  from  Rome,  the 
Cavaliere  Guidi  found  a  Christian  tomb,  with  a  fine  sarcophagus,  on 
which  was  a  sculpture  of  Jonah  cast  into  the  sea ;  and  in  a  coffin  the 
remains  of  a  body  wrapped  in  a  dress  of  cloth  of  gold,  and  on  the 
mouth  was  a  coin  of  Julian  the  Apostate.  The  sarcophagus  he  pre¬ 
sented  to  the  Lateran  Museum. 

The  catacombs  on  the  Via  Latina  can  hardly  be  separated  from 
those  on  the  Via  Appia. 

0  For  a  detailed  catalogue  of  the  sub-  Bosio  ;  Terret,  plates  15  to  34;  and 
jects  of  the  paintings  in  this  catacomb,  De  Rossi. 

see  the  Appendix  to  this  chapter;  p  William  of  Malmesbury,  p.  423. 


VII.  CATACOMBS  ON  THE  VIA  LABICANA. 


“The  seventh  is  called,  at  present,  the  Greater  gate  (Porta  Maggiore),  for¬ 
merly  the  Sircurina  (Esquilina?)  ;  and  the  way  the  Lavicanian,  which  leads  to 
S.  Helena.  Near  this  are  Peter,  Marcellinus,  Tyburtinus,  Geminus,  Gorgonius, 
and  the  forty  soldiers  <h  and  others  without  number  ;  and  a  little  farther  the  F our 
Coronati r.” 


SS.  Peter  and  Marcellinus. 


The  Mausoleum  of  S.  Helena8  was  built  by  herself,  at  the  en¬ 
trance  to  this  catacomb,  and  was  intended  to  be  not  only  her  own 
burial-place,  but  the  burial-chapel  for  the  Catacombs.  She  died 
in  Palestine  in  her  eightieth  year,  and  her  sarcophagus  must  have 
been  prepared  for  her  by  herself,  or  her  daughter  in  her  lifetime. 
There  is  not  the  least  probability  that  Constantine,  who  never  resided 
at  Rome,  would  have  gone  to  all  this  expense  merely  for  a  memorial 
tomb,  to  which  he  did  not  send  the  body  of  his  mother1. 

The  principal  entrance  to  the  catacomb  was  by  this  chapel,  pass¬ 
ing  through  the  sacristy,  and  then  descending  by  forty  steps  to  the 
level  of  the  first  corridor.  Over  the  entrance  from  the  sacristy 
is  an  inscription,  recording  that  these  steps  were  repaired  by 
Cardinal  N.  Corsini  in  1769.  Within  is  one  of  the  effigies  in 
honour  of  the  two  martyrs  after  whom  the  catacomb  is  named. 
This  is  placed  in  a  chapel  on  the  left-hand,  rebuilt  in  1779,  but 
shewing  that  there  was  a  chapel  at  the  entrance  of  the  catacomb 
before  the  time  of  S.  Helena.  A  number  of  inscriptions  found  in 
this  catacomb  have  been  preserved  in  various  places,  and  printed 
by  Gruter  and  others ;  some  are  let  into  the  wall  at  the  en¬ 
trance  to  the  Mausoleum.  From  this  it  is  evident  that  this  was 


q  The  forty  soldiers  suffered  martyr¬ 
dom  under  Licinius,  at  Sebastia,  in 
Armenia. 

r  So  called,  because  for  a  long  time 
after  they  had  suffered  martyrdom  ( mar - 
tyrio  coronati),  their  names  were  un¬ 
known  ;  and  though  afterwards  their 
real  names  were  revealed  to  a  certain 
priest,  yet  they  still  continued  to  retain 
their  former  designation.  See  Sharpe’s 
William  of  Malmesbury,  p.  422. 

s  “  .  .  .  Augustus  Constantinus  fecit 
basilicam  beatissimis  martyribus  Marcel- 
lino  presbytero  et  Petro  exorcistae  inter 
Duas  Lauros,  et  mausoleum,  ubi  beatis- 
sima  mater  ipsius  sepulta  est  Helena  Au¬ 


gusta,  in  sarcophago  porphyretico,  Via 
Lavicana,  milliario  ab  urbe  Roma  tertio. 
In  quo  loco  .  .  .  posuit  dona  voti  sui,” 
&c.  (Anastasius  Biblioth.  in  vita  S.  Sil- 
vestri,  xxxiv.  44.) 

1  “Her  body  was  honoured  with 
special  tokens  of  respect,  being  escorted 
in  its  way  to  the  imperial  city  by  a  vast 
train  of  guards,  and  there  deposited  in 
a  royal  tomb.”  (Eusebius,  Life  of  Con¬ 
stantine,  iii.  47. )  The  imperial  city  in 
the  time  of  Constantine  was  Constan¬ 
tinople  :  if  the  body  had  been  sent  to 
Rome,  it  would  have  been  sent  by  sea ; 
and  this  tomb  is  not  in  the  city,  but 
three  miles  from  it. 


SECT.  VII.]  Via  Labicana. — SS.  Peter  and  Mar cellinus.  93 


the  burial-place  of  the  foreign  legion  of  the  guard  of  the  Emperors, 
which  they  always  had  in  their  character  of  Pontifex  Maximus, 
a  custom  continued  by  the  Popes  to  our  own  day  u. 

This  catacomb  was  formerly  called  after  S.  Helena,  as  it  is  in  fact 
the  family  burying-place  under  her  tomb,  and  the  entrance  to  it  was 
as  usual  through  the  tomb  itself,  as  we  have  said.  In  it  is  a  chapel 
with  an  altar  cut  out  of  the  tufa  rock,  the  flat  roof  supported  by  four 
detached  columns,  and  at  the  opposite  end  an  arm-chair  cut  out  of 
the  rock,  of  which  an  engraving  is  given  by  Boldetti,  and  by  Perret v. 

S.  Gorgonius,  S.  Tiburtius,  and  S.  Castulus,  are  also  said  to  have 
been  buried  in  this  catacomb. 

It  is  very  extensive,  and  four  stories  deep ;  being  made  in 
a  harder  stone  than  usual,  the  corridors  are  more  narrow.  Some 
of  the  original  work  is  probably  as  early  as  the  third  century,  but 
nothing  of  that  period  of  any  definite  character  remains  visible. 
A  tombstone  dated  a.d.  292,  and  another  of  a.d.  307,  were  found 
in  it.  It  has  been  much  repaired  and  restored  in  the  seventh  and 
eighth  centuries  by  Honorius  I.,  a.d.  626,  and  again  by  Hadrian  I., 
a.d.  772.  There  are  several  brick  walls  and  arches  of  those  periods, 
some  round-headed,  others  triangular.  All  the  paintings  are  of  those 
periods,  chiefly  the  latter ;  some  of  them  are  fine  of  their  kind  and 
well-preserved,  others  are  inferior  and  mutilated ;  the  subjects  are 
the  usual  ones  w. 

In  the  first  chapel  described  by  Bosio,  the  paintings  are  much 
decayed ;  but  enough  remains  to  shew  the  style  and  the  subjects. 
They  are  very  rude,  the  heads  coarse  and  vulgar-looking,  but  very 
expressive ;  the  costumes  are  those  of  the  seventh  century. 

Second  painting :  a  chapel  with  painted  vault  and  arco-solimn ; 


u  One  of  these  inscriptions  is  as  fol¬ 
lows,  and  serves  as  an  example  of  the 
others.  The  person  interred  was  evi¬ 
dently  a  Pagan. 

D.  M. 

T.  AVREL.  SVMMVS  .  EQ. 

SING.  AVG.  CLAVDIO  . 

VIRVNO  .  NAT.  NORIC. 

VIX.  ANN.  XXVII.  MIL. 

ANN.  VIII.  P.  jELIVS  . 

SEVERVS . HERES . 

AMIC.  OPTIM.  F.  C. 

Diis  Manibus.  Titus  Aurelius  Summus 
eques  singularis  Augusti  Claudio  Vi- 
runo  natus  Noricus.  Vixit  annos  xxvii. 
militavit  annos  viii.  Publicus  Alius 
Severus,  heres,  amico  optimo  fieri  cu- 
ravit. 

T  S.  John  III.  is  said  to  have  re¬ 


mained  and  dwelt  in  the  catacomb  of 
SS.  Tiburtius  and  Valerianus,  which  is 
part  of  that  of  SS.  Peter  .and  Marcelli- 
nus,  and  to  have  consecrated  bishops 
there.  The  probable  explanation  of 
this  is  that  he  dwelt  in  the  great  tomb 
of  S.  Helena,  at  the  entrance  to  this 
catacomb,  and  consecrated  in  the  chapel 
there.  A  modem  church  has  been  made 
in  a  small  part  of  the  tomb,  which  has 
no  longer  any  roof ;  but  the  tomb  itself 
was  originally  used  as  a  chapel  also. 

w  Bosio  gives  a  plan  of  this  catacomb, 
and  views  of  fourteen  cubicula  and  three 
arco  -  solia  and  a  hundred  paintings, 
mostly  repetitions  of  the  same  subjects. 
Several  of  these  have  been  repeated  in 
the  great  work  of  Perret,  and  by  others. 
See  Appendix. 


94 


Catacombs. —  Via  Labicana. 


[SECT. 


the  paintings  are  much  mutilated,  but  can  be  made  out.  Under 
the  arch  is  an  agape,  or  the  marriage-feast  of  Cana,  with  the  urns 
or  water-vases ;  on  the  vault,  in  the  centre,  is  the  Good  Shepherd, 
with  goats  and  other  animals;  on  the  sides,  the  history  of  Jonah, 
and  orantes  draped  in  surplice  and  stole,  as  usual ;  two  of  these  are 
females,  one  with  a  crown  on  her  head  and  flowing  locks.  In  one 
corner  is  a  seat,  built  of  brick,  plastered  over. 

Third  painting  :  a  burial-chapel  or  cubiculum ,  the  paintings  well  pre¬ 
served,  but  late.  The  subjects  are  the  usual  ones,  from  the  history  of 
Jonah.  Under  the  arch  an  orante,  with  a  veil,  and  two  other  figures 
addressing  her,  one  on  either  side,  with  trees  between.  On  the  rest 
of  the  arch,  Noah  in  the  ark,  Moses  striking  the  rock,  Adam  and 
Eve,  birds,  and  festoons  of  flowers  ;  the  panels  separated  by  broad 
red  borders.  On  the  vault,  in  the  centre,  the  Good  Shepherd ;  on 
the  sides,  four  subjects  from  the  life  of  Jonah,  four  orantes. 

Fourth  painting  :  a  chapel  or  cubiculum ,  with  an  air-shaft  or  lumi- 
)iare.  On  the  vault,  a  large  figure  of  Christ,  with  the  A  and  Q. 
Over  the  tomb,  four  figures,  with  the  names  of  SS.  Peter  and  Mar- 
cellinus,  Claudius,  Tiburtius. 

Fifth  painting :  a  small  cubiculum  or  burial-chapel,  the  paintings 
fairly  preserved,  the  usual  subjects.  On  the  vault,  in  the  centre,  the 
Good  Shepherd  ;  on  the  sides,  four  subjects  from  Jonah,  four  orantes, 
one  has  the  name  haio  over  her.  The  lines  separating  the  panels 
are  the  usual  broad  red  lines,  and  some  of  them  are  engrailed  at  the 
edges.  Under  the  arch  is  a  Madonna  with  the  Child,  and  two  Magi 
with  offerings.  On  the  wall,  Moses  striking  the  rock,  Noah  in  the 
ark,  four  orantes. 

Fabretti,  in  his  work  on  Inscriptions  (c.  viii.),  mentions  the  finding 
of  a  catacomb  on  the  Via  Labicana,  which  he  considers  to  be  that 
of  Castulus  x,  and  gives  the  inscription  found  there. 

About  half-a-mile  farther  down  this  road  than  the  monastery  of 
S.  Helena,  is  another  catacomb  called  after  her  name.  It  was  dis¬ 
covered  only  a  few  years  since,  and  there  is  said  to  be  a  subterranean 
passage  from  this  to  the  great  catacomb  of  SS.  Peter  and  Marcelli- 
nus.  One  end  of  a  passage  or  corridor  going  in  that  direction  is 
visible,  but  how  far  it  extends  has  not  been  ascertained.  This  cata¬ 
comb  differs  from  many  others  in  having  fine  mosaic  pavements, 
and  a  gradual  descent  into  it,  ornamented  in  the  same  manner, 
instead  of  stairs.  It  has  evidently  been  the  burial-place  of  some 
family  of  importance  and  wealth,  and  not  of  the  poor,  as  so  many  of 

x  For  an  account  of  this  catacomb  road,  see  our  Chronological  Table,  A.D. 
of  S.  Castulus  at  the  first  mile  on  the  300. 


VII.] 


Via  Nomentana. —  .S'.  Agnes. 


95 


the  others  have  been.  It  is  situated  in  the  garden  of  a  gentleman’s 
villa,  and  this  has  probably  been  always  the  case.  The  present 
modern  villa  only  replaces  one  of  the  time  of  the  early  Empire. 
Many  fragments  of  fine  sculpture  and  terra-cotta  ornaments  found  on 
the  spot  are  now  built  into  the  walls  of  the  modern  buildings.  The 
ground  on  which  it  was  called  after  S.  Helena  seems  rather  doubtful ; 
but  it  was  so  considered  by  the  antiquaries  of  the  day  at  the  time  it 
was  found,  and  the  Pope  gave  it  that  name  in  accordance  with  their 
opinion.  The  style  of  the  pavements  and  the  ornaments  agree  with 
the  second  century  rather  than  the  time  of  Constantine.  There  are 
several  patterns  in  the  mosaic  pavements,  and  all  of  them  good. 
The  approach  by  an  incline,  instead  of  stairs,  is  a  very  unusual  fea¬ 
ture,  believed  to  be  unique  in  the  Catacombs.  Whatever  sarcophagi, 
or  tombstones  with  inscriptions,  may  have  been  there,  have  been  all 
carried  away. 


Via  Nomentana. — S.  Agnes. 


“The  fifth  is  called  the  Numentan  gate.  There  lies  S.  Nicomede,  priest  and 
martyr ;  the  way  too  is  called  by  the  same  name.  Near  the  road  are  the  church 
and  body  of  S.  Agnes  ;  in  another  church,  S.  Ermerenciana,  and  the  martyrs 
Alexander,  Foelix,  Papias  ;  at  the  seventh  stone  on  this  road,  rests  the  holy  Pope 
Alexander,  with  Eventius  and  Theodolus  y.  ” 

S.  Agnes  is  one  of  the  great  saints  of  the  Church  and  the  special 
patroness  of  purity.  She  suffered  martyrdom  at  the  age  of  thirteen, 
in  the  beginning  of  the  great  persecution  of  Diocletian,  about 
a.d.  303,  and  is  described  by  Prudentius,  in  his  hymn  upon  her 
passion,  as  a  model  of  courage  and  purity  h  He  mentions  her  tomb 
as  within  sight  of  Rome,  and  in  her  own  house,  that  is,  under  the 
church  erected  in  her  honour.  This  catacomb  is  just  beyond  the 
church  of  the  same  name,  about  two  miles  from  Rome ;  the  ori¬ 
ginal  entrance  to  it  was  through  the  church,  which  for  that  reason 
is  partly  subterranean,  having  been  originally  a  cemetery  chapel. 
The  earliest  dated  tombstone  found  in  it  is  a.d.  291.  Part  of 
this  catacomb  was  made  by  Constantia,  the  daughter  of  Constan¬ 
tine  ;  it  is  one  of  the  finest  of  Rome  :  the  galleries  are  higher 
and  wider,  and  the  chapels  have  more  architectural  character  than 
most  of  the  others.  The  present  entrance  has  been  broken  through 
in  comparatively  modern  times ;  and  there  was  another  entrance 
through  an  arenarium  or  sand-pit,  which  remains,  and  in  this  is 

y  William  of  Malmesbury,  p.  422.  Servat  salutem  Virgo  Quiritium  : 


1  ‘  ‘  Agnes  sepulchrum  est  Romulea  in 


Necnon  et  ipsos  protegit  advenas, 
Puro  ac  fideli  pectore  supplices,”  &c. 


domo, 

Fortis  puellse,  martyris  inclytse. 
Conspectu  in  ipso  condita  turrium 


(Aurel.  Prudentii  Peristeph.  hymn.  xiv. 
“  Passio  Agnetis  Virginia,  ”  v.  1.) 


9  6 


Catacombs. — S.  Agnes. 


[SECT. 


a  square  opening  down  to  the  upper  gallery  of  the  catacomb 
below,  evidently  for  hoisting  up  the  sand  excavated  in  the  sand¬ 
pit,  and  over  it  is  a  recess,  above  the  line  of  the  vault,  for  the 
pulley  to  work  in.  There  is  a  great  original  flight  of  steps,  or 
staircase,  cut  in  the  tufa  down  from  the  sand-pit  to  the  catacomb, 
and  there  are  two  other  flights  of  steps  from  one  gallery  to  another. 
The  material  is  hard  tufa,  but  with  a  thin  bed  of  Pozzolana  sand 
at  about  4  ft.  from  the  ground  of  the  corridors  and  cubicula ,  through¬ 
out  the  whole  catacomb,  which  is  very  extensive,  and  only  partially 
excavated.  The  present  entrance  is  by  a  steep  flight  of  steps,  pro¬ 
bably  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

This  catacomb  was  sometimes  called  Ccemeterium  majus ,  also  Ostri- 
anum ,  and  “ad  Nymphas  S.  Petri,”  “  Fons  S.  Petri,”  and  S.  Nico- 
medes.  All  these  names  probably  belong  to  different  cubicula  in  the 
great  cemetery.  Bosio  describes  some  parts  which  have  not  since 
been  discovered. 

Signor  de  Rossi  is  of  opinion  that  one  of  the  two  chairs  of  S.  Peter 
was  placed  in  one  of  these  chambers,  and  was  an  object  of  pilgrim¬ 
age,  as  mentioned  in  the  Mirabilia.  Panvinius  considers  this  as 
the  earliest  of  the  Catacombs. 

A  part  of  this  great  catacomb  was  probably  made  during  the  per¬ 
secution  under  Julian  the  Apostate,  a.d.  360,  363.  The  remem¬ 
brance  of  the  great  persecution  at  the  end  of  the  third  century  was 
then  fresh  in  the  memory  of  the  people,  and  they  were  anxious  to 
provide  against  the  recurrence  of  another  persecution  of  the  same 
kind.  Such  precautions  as  were  here  taken  are  just  such  as  would 
be  dictated  by  experience  and  prudence.  The  present  appearance 
of  this  catacomb  is  just  as  early  as  any  of  the  others ;  the  corridors 
are  rather  wider  and  higher,  but  that  is  the  only  difference. 

It  is  in  this  catacomb  that  Bishop  Liberius  is  said  to  have  taken 
refuge  for  a  time  on  his  return  from  exile,  during  the  persecution  of 
Julian  the  Apostate.  He  resided  with  his  relation  Constantius,  in 
order  that,  by  his  intervention,  he  might  be  brought  back  to  the  city, 
which  was  eventually  done.  The  probability  is  that  he  resided  with 
the  Emperor  Constantius  II.  (a  Christian)  in  the  Imperial  Villa,  to 
which  the  large  building  called  the  Hippodrome  of  Maxentius  be¬ 
longed.  This  is  close  to  the  church  and  catacomb  of  S.  Agnes,  and 
he  could  be  hidden  there  in  case  of  need.  It  is  possible  that  the 
whole  of  this  passage  in  Anastasius a  is  one  of  the  interpolations,  but 

a  “Rediens  autem  Liberius  de  exsilio,  per  ejus  interventionem,  aut  rogatum 
habitavit  in  coemeterio  sanctae  Agnetis  rediret  Liberius  in  civitatem.  Tunc 
apud  germanam  Constantii,  ut  quasi  Constantia  Augusta,  quae  fidelis  erat 


VII.] 


Via  Nomentana. — S.  Agnes. 


97 


not  probable  ;  the  explanation  proposed  is  consistent  with  the  ac¬ 
count  given  by  Liberius  himself,  or  his  successor  in  this  Pontifical 
Register,  supposing  it  to  be  genuine. 

In  the  year  1870  the  monks  of  the  monastery  attached  to  the 
Church  of  S.  Agnes  excavated  a  small  portion  of  this  catacomb 
where  it  joined  on  to  the  church ;  but  they  were  not  then  able  to 
carry  on  the  excavations  far  enough  to  shew  the  connection  between 
this  portion  and  the  great  Catacomb,  as  the  vault  had  there  fallen 
in  between  the  recent  excavations  and  the  great  Catacomb,  the  pre¬ 
sent  entrance  to  which  is  at  some  distance  further  down  the  road. 
They  had  the  good  sense  to  leave  everything  exactly  as  they  found 
it,  with  the  graves  unopened.  The  face  of  each  loculus  (or  grave 
cut  in  the  rock)  is  covered  by  either  tiles  or  marble  slabs,  fragments 
of  earlier  tombstones.  The  inscriptions  are  sometimes  painted  on 
the  tiles,  sometimes  scratched  on  them,  and  in  the  case  of  marble 
generally  rudely  cut.  One  is  in  mosaic  letters,  the  only  one  in  the 
Catacombs  ;  the  character  of  the  letters  is  of  the  fourth  century.  In 
this  small  branch  of  the  Catacomb  a  tombstone,  with  a  Pagan  in¬ 
scription,  remained  on  the  floor  standing  against  the  wall,  the  back 
of  the  slab  left  rough  with  the  plaster  on  the  edges,  evidently  for 
fixing  it  against  the  wall.  According  to  the  theory  of  the  Roman 
Church,  this  was  merely  brought  down  into  the  Catacomb  for  the 
purpose  of  being  there  polished  and  engraved  on  the  reverse,  now 
rough,  then  cut  up  and  fixed  across  the  openings,  of  loculi.  This 
theory  appears  very  improbable  :  the  Catacombs  were  not  likely  to 
be  used  as  stonemasons’  yards,  even  in  the  times  of  persecution,  and 
at  other  times  there  would  be  no  need  for  it. 

The  excavations  were  continued  to  a  much  greater  extent  in  1871  ; 
but  the  good  monks  soon  arrived  at  a  part  of  the  Catacomb  that  had 
been  thoroughly  rifled,  as  is  usual  in  the  other  Catacombs,  and  here 
they  found  the  name  of  bosio  written  on  the  wall,  which  shews  the 
period  when  much  of  the  rifling  of  the  Catacombs  took  place.  The 
part  first  opened  was  just  as  it  was  left  in  the  ninth  century,  after 
the  restoration  by  the  Popes. 

On  the  grand  staircase  leading  down  into  the  church  of  S.  Agnes, 
the  walls  are  covered  with  the  remains  of  old  tombstones  and  frag¬ 
ments  of  carved  sarcophagi,  some  of  which  give  the  dates  by  the 
names  of  the  consuls,  and  some  are  of  distinctly  Pagan  character. 

Domino  Jesu  Christi,  voluit  rogare  Con-  quia  senserat  consilium  doli.” — Anast., 
stantium  Augustum  germanum  suum,  c.  xxxvii.  p.  30. 

H 


98 


Catacombs. — .S'.  Agnes. 


[SECT. 


One  of  the  sculptures  is  of  a  fawn,  with  other  figures,  and  one  of 
the  inscriptions  begins  with  the  usual  d.  m.  for  Diis  Manibus. 

The  six  painted  chambers  described  and  published  by  Bosio,  and  by 
others  after  him,  remain  unaltered ;  but  the  paintings  are  much  da¬ 
maged,  and  this  has  evidently  been  done  wilfully  in  some  cases. 
Others  are  very  black,  probably  from  the  use  of  torches  to  shew  them 
in  former  times,  as  at  S.  Priscilla  and  others  ;  at  present,  in  all  cases, 
wax  tapers  only  are  used.  The  paintings  are  chiefly  of  the  fourth 
and  fifth  centuries,  and  some  appear  to  be  by  the  same  hand  as 
some  of  those  in  S.  Priscilla. 

1.  The  first  cemetery  chapel  from  the  present  entrance  has  evi¬ 
dently  been  made  for  a  school-room  :  there  are  two  seats  for  the 
teachers,  resembling  two  plain  arm-chairs,  one  on  each  side  of  the 
door,  and  a  bench  for  the  children,  all  cut  out  of  the  tufo  rock. 
The  chamber  is  about  8  ft.  square,  with  a  quadripartite  groined 
vault ;  and  there  are  loculi  for  bodies,  or  graves  in  the  walls,  as  usual. 
It  may  have  been  painted  ;  but  if  so,  the  plaster  and  painting  has  all 
fallen  off.  Many  parts  of  this  catacomb  are  very  damp,  as  is  seen 
by  the  stalactite  upon  the  vault  and  walls,  and  this  would  account 
for  the  falling  off  of  the  plaster. 

2.  The  second  cemetery  chapel  appears  to  be  quite  plain ;  it  seems 
to  be  small  also,  but  is  only  excavated  to  a  short  distance  from  the 
door.  It  is  passed  over  by  Bosio  altogether;  probably  the  door¬ 
way  to  it  had  not  been  observed  in  his  time. 

3.  The  third  chapel  is  painted  ;  this  is  the  first  on  the  list  of 
Bosio,  who  calls  the  school-room  “  Cubiculum  in  aditu  Coemeterii.” 
This  chapel  is  small,  and  has  been  richly  painted,  but  the  painting 
is  not  early.  The  principal  subject  is  an  agape  or  marriage-feast, 
or  funeral-supper.  Seven  persons  are  seated  round  a  semicircular 
or  lunette  table,  with  the  triclinium  or  cushion  to  lean  upon  between 
them  and  the  table ;  in  front  of  the  table,  in  the  hollow  space  in 
the  centre,  are  seven  water-pots,  probably  the  vases  for  the  water 
turned  into  wine.  This  painting  is  now  much  mutilated,  but  the 
design  is  given  by  Bosio.  On  the  vault  is  the  Good  Shepherd,  and 
on  the  side  Daniel  and  the  lions.  The  panels  are  divided  by  broad 
bands,  with  festooned  edges  like  ingrailed  work  of  later  times,  and 
there  are  remains  of  four  orantes  on  the  angles  of  the  groined  vault, 
draped  in  white  surplices  with  black  stoles  or  borders. 

4.  The  fourth  cemetery  chapel  is  small,  and  also  richly  painted 
with  the  usual  subjects,  but  late,  with  festoons  of  flowers  and  baskets 
of  fruit,  birds,  and  other  ornaments. 


VII.] 


Via  Nomentana. — 5.  Agnes. 


99 


5.  The  fifth  cemetery  chapel  (the  third  of  Bosiob)  is  also  richly 
painted  with  many  of  the  usual  subjects  :  the  ten  Virgins  with 
their  lamps ;  the  three  Children  in  the  furnace,  in  a  remarkable  cos¬ 
tume,  in  trousers,  with  stripes,  continued  over  the  shoulders. 


In  the  work  of  Father  Garrucci  (plate  ix.  fig.  6)  is  the  foot  of  a  glass 
vase  from  this  catacomb,  with  three  figures  and  two  scrolls  or  rolls  of 
parchment  between  them.  Over  the  head  of  the  central  figure, 
a  female,  is  the  name  maria,  by  the  side  of  the  right-hand  figure 
petrvs,  and  on  the  left  pavlvs.  The  costumes,  the  attitudes,  the 
style  of  art,  and  the  form  of  the  letters,  seem  to  agree  with  the  fifth 
century.  Maria  is  holding  out  her  hands  to  the  two  Apostles,  who 
are  addressing  her ;  but  neither  of  these  three  figures  is  in  the  atti¬ 
tude  of  prayer  or  adoration.  On  another  vase  on  the  same  plate, 
Maria  is  represented  more  decidedly  in  the  attitude  of  prayer,  be¬ 
tween  the  same  two  Apostles ;  and  in  this  they  are  also  addressing 
her,  but  not  praying  to  her,  and  each  has  his  roll  or  volume  of 
Epistles  in  his  hand.  On  several  other  vases  Maria  is  standing 
alone  in  the  attitude  of  prayer;  in  one  between  two  trees,  with 
tongues  of  flame ;  in  another  with  a  bird  speaking  in  each  ear ;  in 
another  two  rolls  or  volumes  (the  Old  and  New  Testaments?),  and 
in  each  case  she  stands  between  two  trees.  In  each  case  Maria 
has  the  well-known  badge  of  servitude  over  her  shoulders,  in  other 
respects  the  costumes  are  different,  but  all  agreeing  with  the  period 
after  the  fourth  century  rather  than  before  it,  as  does  the  style  of 
drawing.  Maria  seems  to  be  symbolical  of  the  Christian  Church. 

Another  vase  from  this  catacomb  is  engraved  in  Garrucci’s  work 
(plate  xlii.  fig.  2) ;  it  was  found  here  in  1698,  and  engraved  in  the 
work  of  Buonarroti  (p.  216).  It  represents  the  usual  personifi¬ 
cations  of  the  earth  and  water,  or  Neptune  in  the  arms  of  Arnphi- 
trite,  with  the  usual  genii  and  other  attributes ;  the  legend  round  the 
margin  of  the  picture  is  Ris  .  vivas  .  valeas  .  vincas,  and  round  the 
border  of  a  crown,  carried  by  one  of  the  genii,  is  the  Greek  word 
KAnE©.  This  seems  to  admit  of  no  other  interpretation  than  a 
Pagan  one.  The  character  of  the  art  is  of  the  third  century.  Another 
vase,  said  to  have  been  found  in  this  catacomb,  and  engraved  in 
Aringhi,  vol.  i.  p.  508,  and  in  Garrucci,  plate  xli.  fig.  2,  is  of  Pagan 
character,  but  this  is  pronounced  by  Garrucci  to  be  spurious. 

b  For  more  full  particulars  of  the  tents  of  Bosio,  Roma  Sotterranea,  p. 
paintings  in  this  catacomb,  see  the  441  to  475,  and  Perret,  Catacombes 
Appendix  to  this  chapter,  in  the  con-  de  Rome,  vol.  ii.,  p.  1  to  54. 


H  2 


100 


Catacombs. — N.  Cyriaca. 


[SECT. 


S.  Alexander0. 

The  catacomb  of  S.  Alexander  was  discovered  in  1855  by  ac¬ 
cident,  and  excavated  by  Ch.  Guidi.  It  is  situated  on  the  Via 
Nomentana,  at  seven  miles  from  Rome,  by  the  side  of  the  ruins 
of  the  church  through  which  is  the  entrance  to  it. 

S.  Alexander  is  said  by  Oldoini  the  Jesuit,  in  his  additions  to 
Ciaconius,  to  have  been  the  son  of  Victoria,  and  a  pupil  of  Pliny 
the  Younger  and  Plutarch,  and  to  have  received  martyrdom  by 
being  chained  to  the  ground.  His  relics  were  translated  from  this 
catacomb  to  Lucca  by  Alexander  II.,  in  1070,  and  deposited  under 
the  high  altar  there,  together  with  the  chair  with  which  he  was 
buried,  as  stated  on  an  inscription.  The  possession  of  his  relics 
is  however  claimed  also  by  several  other  churches.  They  are  said 
to  have  been  given  by  Leo  III.  to  Charlemagne,  and  deposited  at 
Saint-Denis,  near  Paris.  The  churches  of  S.  Sabina  on  the  Aventine, 
and  S.  Lorenzo  in  Lucina,  also  lay  claim  to  them,  and  have  inscrip¬ 
tions  to  that  effect,  the  latter  dated  in  1196. 

Three  letters  of  this  saint  are  extant,  besides  his  decrees,  which 
are  considered  important.  According  to  some  modern  authors,  he 
took  refuge  in  the  Catacombs  during  the  persecution,  but  there 
is  no  early  evidence  of  this. 


SS.  Primus,  Felicianus,  and  MAXiMiANUSd. 

The  catacomb  of  SS.  Primus,  Felicianus,  and  Maximianus  (who 
were  martyrs  in  the  great  persecution  under  Diocletian,  a.d.  303), 
is  situated  on  the  Via  Nomentana  at  the  fourteenth  mile  from  Rome, 
in  the  district  called  Ad  Arcus  Nomentanos.  There  is  a  small  church 
over  the  entrance  to  it  about  a  mile  from  Mentana,  on  the  field  of 
battle  in  1867  between  the  Garibaldians  on  one  side,  and  the  Pon¬ 
tifical  army  supported  by  the  French  on  the  other e.  These  saints 
and  martyrs  are  commemorated  on  the  fifth  of  June  in  the  Roman 
Martyrology.  This  catacomb  was  originally  a  sand-pit,  and  the 
bodies  of  the  martyrs,  or  the  relics  of  them,  were  carried  by  Pope 


0  See  the  Church  of  S.  Alexander  in 
section  xii. 

d  ‘  ‘  Corpus  beatissimi  Alexandri  primi 
Pont.  Max.  martyrio  coronati  una  cum 
catena  qua  vinctus  custodiebatur,  ab 
Alexandra  secundo  in  ara  hujus  ternpli 
subterranea  conditum  debita  cum  reve- 
rentia  fuit  in  hoc  altare  translatum  cu- 


rante  nobili  viro  Joanne  Arnolphinio 
aedi. ”  (Inscription.) 

e  F.  Gori  (Dal  Ponte  Salario  di  Roma 
a  Fidene,  &c.,  Roma,  1863,  i2mo.,  pp. 
74,  75)  says  that  the  catacomb  of  S. 
Restitutus  is  also  visible  near  Monte  Ro- 
tondo,  at  the  sixteenth  mile  on  the  Via 
Nomentana.  SeeAringhi,  lib.iii.cap.  19. 


VII.] 


Via  Tiburtina. — 6".  Cyriaca . 


IOI 


Theodoras  I.,  a.d.  686,  to  the  church  of  S.  Stefano  Rotondo  on  the 
Coelian. 


Via  Tiburtina. 

“  The  sixth  is  the  Tiburtine  gate  and  way,  which  is  now  called  S.  Lawrence’s  ; 
near  this  way  lies  S. Lawrence  in  his  church,  and  Habundius  the  martyr;  and 
near  this,  in  another  church,  rest  these  martyrs,  Ciriaca,  Romanus,  Justinus,  Cres- 
centianus  ;  and  not  far  from  hence  the  church  of  S.  Hippolytus,  where  he  himself 
rests,  and  his  family,  eighteen  in  number;  there  too  repose  S. Trifonia,  the  wife 
of  Decius,  and  his  daughter  Cirilla,  and  her  nurse  Concordia.  And  in  another 
part  of  this  way,  is  the  church  of  Agapitus  the  martyr f.” 


S.  Cyriaca  and  S.  Lorenzo. 


In  the  Pontifical  Register  of  S.  Silvester,  a.d.  320,  given  in  An- 
astasiusg,  it  is  recorded  that  the  church  of  S.  Laurentius,  martyr 
(S.  Lorenzo,  f.m.),  was  built  upon  the  sand-pit  crypt,  with  steps  to 
descend  into  it,  and  ascend  from  it.  As  the  apse  is  mentioned  im¬ 
mediately  afterwards,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  high  altar  was 
placed  over  this  sand-pit,  which  must  also  have  been  the  burial-place 
of  the  martyr.  The  custom  of  having  under  the  altar  a  crypt  called 
a  confession  with  descending  and  ascending  steps,  which  was  so  gene¬ 
rally  followed  in  the  Middle  Ages,  probably  had  its  origin  in  this 
manner,  by  building  the  altar  over  the  sand-pit  crypt  in  which  the 
martyr  had  been  buried. 

S.  Cyriaca  is  said  to  have  been  a  lady  of  noble  family  and  high 
rank,  and  to  have  been  made  a  martyr  under  the  Emperor  Valerian  h. 
She  is  said  to  have  lived  on  the  Coelian,  and  the  church  of  S.  Maria 
Domnica  to  have  been  originally  in  the  hall  of  her  house.  Her  cata¬ 
comb  (which  was  probably  made  on  one  of  her  farms)  is  adjoining 
to  the  church  and  monastery  and  burial-ground  of  S.  Lorenzo  fuori 
delle  mura,  and  was  one  of  the  most  celebrated  catacombs  or  ceme¬ 
teries.  It  was  discovered,  or  rather  re-discovered,  by  Bosio,  in  1593, 
and  he  has  published  a  number  of  inscriptions  from  tombstones  found 
in  it,  but  no  paintings.  Of  these  inscriptions  some  have  the  dates 
of  a.d.  295,  296,  297,  298,  301,  and  one  is  dated  by  the  name  of 
the  consul  Phocas,  as  late  as  a.d.  604. 


f  Will.  Malmesb.  Gesta  Angl.,  vol.  ii. 
p.  541.  The  catacomb  of  S.  Cyriaca 
is  called  by  Panvinius  also  Crypta  Ti¬ 
burtina. 

g  “  Eodem  tempore  Constantinus 
Augustus  fecit  basilicam  beato  Lau- 
rentio  martyri,  via  Tiburtina  in  agrum, 
Veranum  supra  Arenarium  cryptse  et  us¬ 


que  ad  corpus  B.  Laurentii  martyris,  in 
qua  fecit  gradum  ascensionis  et  descen- 
sionis.  In  quo  loco  construxit  absi- 
dam.”  (Anastasius,  43.) 

h  Her  legend  is  given  in  the  Roman 
Martyrology,  on  the  12th  of  September, 
and  in  the  Acta  Martyrum. 


102 


Catacombs. — X.  Cyriaca. 


[SECT. 


S.  Laurentius,  or  Lorenzo,  is  one  of  the  great  saints  of  the  Church, 
whose  praise  has  been  recounted  in  all  ages.  He  is  said  to  have 
been  a  Spaniard,  and  to  have  been  a  martyr  in  the  persecution 
under  Valerian,  a.d.  258.  Prudentius  has  a  hymn  on  his  passion1, 
which  relates  all  that  is  really  known  about  him,  the  acts  of  his 
martyrdom  being  of  late  compilation  and  of  no  authority.  He  was 
ordained  deacon  by  S.  Xystus,  and  called  his  archdeacon,  though 
very  young.  He  is  mentioned  by  nearly  all  the  fathers  of  the  fourth 
century,  and  the  great  church  over  his  tomb  was  originally  built  in 
the  time  of  Constantine,  although  it  has  been  rebuilt.  It  was  one 
of  the  five  great  Basilicas  or  Cathedrals  of  Rome  endowed  by 
that  emperor,  who  established  the  first  Deans  and  Chapters  in  these 
cathedrals,  and  divided  the  Imperial  estates  in  the  Campagna  of  Rome 
among  them.  He  is  said  to  have  been  buried  in  this  catacomb  by 
S.  Justin  the  priest,  with  other  martyrs,  Claudius,  a  sub-deacon,  Seve- 
rus,  a  priest,  Crescentius,  a  reader  (J edor ),  and  Romanus,  a  porter. 
The  bodies  of  S.  Irenaeus  and  Abundius  are  also  reported  to  have  been 
saved  from  the  cloaca  into  which  they  had  been  thrown,  and  buried 
in  this  catacomb  also  by  Justin,  near  to  the  body  of  S.  Laurence. 
The  remains  of  S.  Triphonia,  wife  of  the  Emperor  Decius,  and  her 
daughter  Cyrilla,  who  were  made  martyrs  on  the  fifth  of  November, 
were  also  buried  here  by  Justin,  with  those  of  several  other  saints 
and  martyrs.  S.  Justin  himself  was  sacrificed  on  the  first  of  August, 
and  deposited  in  this  catacomb.  Three  bishops  or  popes  were  also 
interred  here,  Zosimus,  Sixtus  III.,  and  Hilary  k. 

The  entrance  to  this  catacomb  was  originally  from  the  church  of 
S.  Lorenzo  fuori  delle  mura ,  which  had  been  built  over  the  original 
small  chapel  at  the  entrance,  and  the  memory  of  this  was  preserved 
by  a  chapel  in  the  aisle  to  the  left  of  the  altar,  or  north  side,  called 
the  “Chapel  of  the  Souls  of  the  Saints”  ( Cappella  delle  anime  saute), 
as  recorded  by  an  inscription  in  gold  on  the  screen '.  On  the  side 
of  the  steps,  are  sculptures  to  represent  the  taking  of  souls  out  of 
purgatory.  The  altar  of  the  chapel  is  placed  under  a  baldachino  or 
canopy,  supported  by  two  separate  shafts,  and  on  it  is  a  sculpture 
of  the  body  of  Christ  as  dead.  These  belong  to  the  decorations  in 


‘  Prudentii  Peristeph.  hymn.  ii. 
k  The  construction  and  present  state 
of  this  catacomb  has  been  partly  de¬ 
scribed  in  the  third  section  of  this 
chapter. 

1  HAEC  EST  TVMBA  ILLA  TOTO  ORBE 
TERRARVM  CELEBERRIMA 


EX  COEMETERIO  SE.  CIRIACAE  MA- 
TRONAE 

VBI  SACRVM  SI  QVIS  FECERIT  PRO 
DEFVNCTIS 

EORVM  ANIMAS  E  PVRGATORIIS  POENIS 
DIVI  LAVRENTII  MERITIS  EVOCABIT. 


VII.] 


Via  Tiburtina . — S.  Cyriaca 


103 


marble,  executed  by  the  Canons  in  1677.  The  door  has  been  walled 
up  since  1821,  and  a  grating  is  placed  to  look  into  the  catacomb, 
or  rather  from  the  catacomb  into  the  church.  At  the  foot  of  the 
steps  is  another  semi-circular  chapel,  in  which  are  an  altar  of  white 
marble  and  three  antique  busts  in  alto-relievo,  with  the  names  of 

S.  STEPH.  S.  LAVRENT.  S.  PETR. 

This  catacomb  is  very  extensive,  but  very  plain,  and  not  very 
interesting.  The  corridors  are  about  half-a-mile  long,  and  there  are 
three  stories  but  only  partially  excavated  and  quite  plain,  no  paintings 
and  no  cubicula  being  in  the  parts  that  are  accessible.  In  some  of  the 
corridors  the  loculi  or  graves  cut  in  the  rock  have  not  been  opened  ; 
the  bones  remain  in  them,  and  the  tiles  with  which  the  mouth  of 
each  grave  is  closed  have  not  been  moved.  The  rock  is  unusually 
hard  for  the  purpose  :  consequently  the  corridors  or  passages,  01- 
streets  as  they  are  sometimes  called,  are  very  narrow,  and  not  lofty, 
some  being  not  more  than  5  ft.  high  at  the  present  time ;  but  this  is 
probably  because  the  earth  has  not  been  entirely  cleared  away  in 
the  foot-paths.  There  is  one  doorway  with  the  arch  closed  with 
a  piece  of  marble,  in  which  is  the  monogram  of  Christ,  with  the 
A  and  Q,  marking  the  fourth  century ;  but  this  is  probably  an  altera¬ 
tion  or  filling  up  of  the  doorway  at  the  end  of  one  of  the  passages. 
The  work  itself  appears  to  be  early.  It  is  entirely  cut  out  of  the 
hard  rock  as  tunnels ;  in  one  place  only,  as  far  as  could  be  seen,  is 
there  any  repair  with  bricks.  The  entrance  is  about  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  from  the  church,  and  at  the  other  end  of  the  corridor  is 
the  grating  opening  into  the  church.  There  were  cubicula  or  painted 
vaults  on  one  side,  until  about  the  year  i860,  when  they  were  cut 
away  with  a  part  of  the  rock  itself  and  some  of  the  corridors,  to 
enlarge  the  great  public  cemetery  of  S.  Lorenzo.  At  the  present 
time  one  side  of  several  of  the  corridors,  and  two  of  the  cubicula , 
have  been  cut  away  :  so  that  we  have  an  actual  section  of  this  cata¬ 
comb,  not  merely  an  imaginary  one  made  by  an  artist.  We  see 
how  the  passages  go  up  and  down,  and  in  various  directions,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  hardness  or  softness  of  the  rock  in  which  the  fossores 
or  grave-diggers  had  to  work. 

Three  inscriptions,  given  by  Bosio  and  Aringhi,  shew  that  this 
catacomb  was  in  use  in  the  fourth,  fifth,  and  seventh  centuries,  by 
the  names  of  the  consuls  m  upon  them.  The  relics  of  S.  Cyriaca  (or 

m  A$n  BENEMERITO  DIE  XVI  KAL.  SEPT. 


POMPEIO  QVI  VIXIT 
MEN SIBVS  XI  D  VI 
DEPOSITVS  IN  PACE 


AVSONIO  ET 
OLYBRIO  CONSS. 


(A.D.  369.) 


104 


Catacombs. — S.  Hippolytus. 


[SECT. 


Domnica),  the  holy  widow,  who  had  been  originally  the  proprietor 
of  this  cemetery,  and  interred  here,  were  translated  from  the  cata¬ 
comb  to  the  church  of  S,  Martino  in  Monte,  by  Sergius  II.,  a.d.  844. 


S.  Hippolytus  ad  Nymphas. 


The  catacomb  of  S,  Hippolytus  is  distinct  from  that  of  S.  Cynaca", 
although  it  has  often  been  treated  as  part  of  the  same.  It  is  very 
large,  the  entrance  is  in  the  vineyard  of  Monsignor  Gori  on  the  left 
of  the  Via  Tiburtina,  near  the  church  of  S.  Lorenzo  fuori  delle  mura. 
There  S.  Hippolytus  was  buried  by  S,  Justin  the  priest;  a  tombstone 
of  a.d.  290  was  found  in  it;  and  at  the  entrance  are  remains  of  the 
church  of  S.  Stephen,  a  Roman  martyr  °.  In  this  catacomb  was 
this  inscription  :  refr[i]geri  tibi  domnvs  ipolitvs  sid. 

S.  Hippolytus  is  said  to  have  been  a  martyr  in  the  persecution  of 
Gallus,  a.d.  252,  and  to  have  been  torn  to  pieces  by  wild  horses  at 
Ostia.  Prudentius  has  a  hymn  on  his  passion,  which  contains  an 


FL.  STELLICONE  VC 
SVB  DIE  X  KAL  SEPTEN 
BRES  EMIT  SOTERES 
SE  VIVA  ET  MARITO 
SVO  VERNACOLO  CON 
PARI  SVO  EMIT  A  CELERINO  FOS 

(A.D.  4OO. ) 
....  OCAE  III  COS 
....  CARI  AMICI 
This  fragment  relates  to  the  third  con¬ 
sulate  of  Phocas,  A.  D.  610. 

Another  inscription  on  a  tombstone 
begins  thus  :  in  crypta  noba,  or  nova, 
a  ‘new’  crypt. 

IN  CRYPTA  noba  RETRO  SAN 
CTVS  EMERVM  SE  VIVAS  BALER 
RAE  T.  SABINAMERVM  LOC 
VBISONI  A  BAPRONE  ET  A 
BIATORE. 

In  the  Kircherian  Museum  a  palim- 
sest  inscription  is  preserved,  mentioned 
y  Ficoroni  as  found  in  this  catacomb. 
One  side  is  Pagan,  the  other  Christian, 
evidently  one  of  the  instances  of  an  old 
marble  plate  being  used  again. 

D.  M. 

Q.  MEDICVS  AVG  LIB. 

A  SOLO  SIBI  FECIT 
HOC  CENOTAFIV  QVI 
NTA  VITALIS  FILIA  MEA 
POSSIDEBET  SINE  CONTRO 
VERSIA. 


^  CONSTANTIV  DISCOLIO 
FRATRI  SVO  BENEMERENTI 


QVI  VIXIT  ANNIS  PLVS  MINVS 
LXIII  BENEMERENTI  IN  PACE. 
n  F.  Gori,  della  Porta  e  Basilica  di 
S.  Lorenzo,  delle  Catacombe  di  S.  Ci- 
riaca,  della  Basilica  di  S.  Stefano  mar- 
tire  Romano,  delle  Catacombe  di  S. 
Ippolito  soldato  e  ad  Nymphas,  e  del 
Camposanto  di  Roma.  Roma,  1862. 
“Talibus  Hippolyti  corpus  mandatur 
opertis 

Propter  ubi  apposita  est  ara  dicata 
Deo. 

Ilia  Sacramenti  donatrix  mensa,  eadem- 
que 

Custos  fida  sui  Martyris  apposita. 
Servat  ad  seterni  spem  judicis  ossa 
sepulchro ; 

Pascit  item  sanctis  Tibricolas  da- 
pibus.” 

(Aurel.  Prudentius,  Peristeph.  hymn, 
xi.  v.  169.) 

For  more  full  particulars  of  the  paint¬ 
ings  in  the  catacomb  of  S.  Cyriaca,  see 
the  Appendix  to  this  chapter,  Bosio, 
lib.  iii.  c.  41,  p.405  to  413  ;  and  Perret, 
37  to  48. 

0  “(Adrianus  Papa  I.)  simul  et 
coemeterium  beati  Hippolyti  juxta  sanc¬ 
tum  Laurentium,  quse  a  priscis  mar- 
cuerant  temporibus,  a  novo  renovavit : 
pari  modo  et  ecclesiam  beati  Christi 
martyris  Stephani,  sitam  juxta  prsedic- 
tum  coemeterium  sancti  Hippolyti,  si¬ 
militer  restauravit.  ”  (Anastas.  Biblioth. 
in  S.  Adr.,  97.) 


vil.]  Via  Tiburtina. — S.  Hippolytus  ad  Nymphas. 


i  OS 


admirable  description  of  a  catacomb  ;  it  has  been  thus  translated  by 
Dr.  Northcote  : — 

“Not  far  from  the  city  walls,  among  the  well-trimmed  orchards,  there  lies 
a  crypt  buried  in  darksome  pits.  Into  its  secret  recesses  a  steep  path  with 
winding  stairs  directs  one,  even  though  the  turnings  shut  out  the  light.  The 
light  of  day,  indeed,  comes  in  through  the  doorway  as  far  as  the  surface  of  the 
opening,  and  illuminates  the  threshold  of  the  portico  ;  and  when,  as  you  advance 
further,  the  darkness  as  of  night  seems  to  get  more  and  more  obscure  throughout 
the  mazes  of  the  cavern,  there  occur  at  intervals  apertures  cut  in  the  roof  which 
convey  the  bright  rays  of  the  sun  upon  the  cave.  Although  the  recesses,  twisting 
at  random  this  way  and  that,  form  narrow  chambers  with  darksome  galleries,  yet 
a  considerable  quantity  of  light  finds  its  way  through  the  pierced  vaulting  down 
into  the  hollow  bowels  of  the  mountain.  And  thus  throughout  the  subterranean 
crypt  it  is  possible  to  perceive  the  brightness  and  enjoy  the  light  of  the  absent 
sun.  To  such  secret  places  is  the  body  of  Hippolytus  conveyed,  near  to  the  spot 
where  now  stands  the  altar  dedicated  to  God.  That  same  altar-slab  (memo)  gives 
the  sacrament,  and  is  the  faithful  guardian  of  its  martyr’s  bones,  which  it  keeps 
laid  up  there  in  expectation  of  the  eternal  Judge,  while  it  feeds  the  dwellers  of 
the  Tiber  with  holy  food.  Wondrous  is  the  sanctity  of  the  place  !  the  altar  is  at 
hand  for  those  who  pray,  and  it  assists  the  hopes  of  men  by  mercifully  granting 
what  they  need.  Here  have  I,  when  sick  with  ills  both  of  soul  and  body,  often¬ 
times  prostrated  myself  in  prayer  and  found  relief.  Yes,  O  glorious  priest !  I  will 
tell  with  what  joy  I  return  to  enjoy  the  privilege  of  embracing  thee,  and  that  I 
know  that  I  owe  all  this  to  Hippolytus,  to  whom  Christ,  our  God,  has  granted 
power  to  obtain  what  any  one  asks  of  him.  That  little  chapel  ( cedicula )  which 
contains  the  cast-off  garments  of  his  soul  [his  relics]  is  bright  with  solid  silver. 
Wealthy  hands  have  put  up  tablets  glistening  with  a  smooth  surface  [of  silver], 
bright  as  a  concave  mirror ;  and,  not  content  with  overlaying  the  entrance  with 
Parian  marble,  they  have  lavished  large  sums  of  money  on  the  ornamentation  of 
the  work.” 

He  goes  on  to  describe  the  pilgrimages  to  the  shrine,  and  with 
somewhat  of  poetic  licence  continues  : — 

‘  ‘  Early  in  the  morning  they  come  to  salute  [the  saint]  ;  all  the  youth  of  the 
place  worship  there,  they  come  and  go  until  the  setting  of  the  sun.  Love  of  reli¬ 
gion  collects  together  into  one  dense  crowd  both  Latins  and  foreigners ;  they 
imprint  their  kisses  on  the  shining  silver  ;  they  pour  out  their  sweet  balsams  ;  they 
bedew  their  faces  with  tears.” 

His  description  of  the  scene  on  the  festa  of  this  martyr,  his  dies 
jiatalis,  reminds  one  forcibly  of  the  way  in  which  the  modern 
Romans  stream  out  to  San  Lorenzo,  or  to  San  Paolo  fuori  delle  mura, 
or  to  any  other  of  the  old  churches,  when  a  festival  or  a  station  is 
held  there : — 

‘  ‘  The  imperial  city  vomits  forth  her  stream  of  Romans,  and  the  plebeian  crowd, 
animated  by  one  and  the  same  desire,  jostle  on  equal  terms  their  patrician  neigh¬ 
bours,  faith  hurrying  them  forward  to  the  shrine.  Albano’s  gates,  too,  send  forth 


io  6 


Catacombs. —  Via  Tiburtina . 


[SECT. 


their  white-robed  hosts  in  a  long-drawn  line.  The  noise  on  the  various  roads  on 
all  sides  waxes  loud ;  the  native  of  the  Abruzzi  and  the  Etruscan  peasant  come, 
the  fierce  Samnite,  the  countryman  of  lofty  Capua  and  of  Nola  is  there  ;  each 
with  his  wife  and  children  delights  to  hasten  on  his  road.  The  broad  fields 
scarcely  suffice  to  contain  the  joyful  people,  and  even  where  the  space  is  wide,  the 
crowd  is  so  great  as  to  cause  delay.  No  doubt,  then,  that  that  cavern,  wide 
though  its  mouth  be  stretched,  is  too  narrow  for  such  crowds  ;  but  hard  by  is 
another  church  ( templum ),  enriched  with  royal  magnificence,  which  this  great 
gathering  may  visit p.  ” 


The  church  of  S.  Lorenzo  seems  to  be  the  one  described.  This 
is  very  near  to  the  catacomb  of  S.  Hippolytus,  and  the  expression 
used  is,  “  near  to  this  is  another  church  so  much  frequented.”  There 
are  remains  of  another  church  or  chapel  over  the  entrance  to  S.  Hip¬ 
polytus,  but  it  could  not  have  been  of  the  rich  character  of  the  one 
here  described,  with  columns  and  rich  ceilings,  and  steps  up  to  the 
front.  These  steps  are  indication  that  the  deep  foss-way  in  front  of 
S.  Lorenzo  has  been  filled  up. 

There  is  considerable  doubt  or  confusion  respecting  the  history  of 
this  saint  and  martyr ;  it  appears  certain  that  there  were  two  or  three 
persons  of  the  same  name,  who  are  not  well  distinguished  one  from 
the  other  by  early  authors  :  consequently  it  is  doubtful  of  what  country 
he  was  a  native,  and  of  what*  place  he  was  bishop.  Still  he  is  men¬ 
tioned  by  S.  Jerome,  and  several  of  his  writings  are  extant,  if  this  is 
the  same  S.  Hippolytus.  The  most  probable  account  is  that  he  was 
a  Greek,  and  was  Bishop  of  Porto  ;  but  some  say  he  was  a  native  of 
Gaul,  and  Bishop  of  Ostia.  S.  Jerome  says  that  he  was  a  bishop, 
but  that  he  did  not  know  of  what  city.  There  is  a  very  curious  early 
Christian  statue  of  this  author,  who  probably  was  also  the  martyr, 
which  is  now  placed  in  the  museum  of  Christian  Antiquities  at  the 
Lateran.  The  head  is  that  of  a  modern  ecclesiastic,  but  the  figure 
is  ancient.  The  saint  is  seated  on  a  marble  chair,  and  on  the 
back  of  it  are  two  Greek  inscriptions  incised,  one  a  catalogue  of 
his  works,  but  incomplete,  as  it  was  made  in  his  lifetime ;  the  other 
a  calendar  and  cycle,  which  shews  that  it  was  made  in  the  time  of 
the  Emperor  Alexander  Severus.  This  statue  was  found  in  1551, 
“  outside  of  the  walls  of  Rome,  near  the  church  of  S.  Lorenzo,” 
therefore  probably  on  the  site  of,  or  in  his  catacomb.  It  has  given 
rise  to  much  discussion,  and  several  works  or  essays  have  been  written 
upon  itq.  This  statue  is  conjectured,  with  some  probability,  to  have 


p  The  description  of  the  crowd  of 
people  might  apply  almost  equally  well 
at  the  present  day,  when  the  catacomb 
of  S.  Calixtus  is  lighted  up  for  the 
modern  pilgrims. 


q  S.  Hippolyti,  episcopi  et  martyris, 
Opera,  &c.,  cur.  Jo.  Alb.  Fabricio. 
Hamburgi,  1716-18,  2  vols.  fol. 

Kimmel  de  Hippolyti  vita  et  Scriptis. 
8vo.  Jense,  1839. 


VII.]  Via  Tiburtina . — S.  Hippo lytus  ad  Nymp has. 


io 7 


been  made  at  the  expense  of  the  wife  of  Alexander  Severus, 
Mammea,  who  was  a  Christian. 

The  body  of  S.  Stephen r,  the  first  martyr,  is  also  said  to  have  been 
translated  from  Constantinople  to  this  catacomb,  on  the  seventh  of 
May,  a.d.  557. 

It  was  also  called  after  S.  Maximus ;  and  there  was  a  church  at 
the  entrance  to  it  dedicated  to  S.  Hilary.  The  crypts  of  S.  Chrys- 
anthus  and  S.  Daria  are  also  mentioned  as  in  this  cemetery,  which 
was  also  called  the  cemetery  of  Novella ;  at  least  this  was  on  the 
same  road,  whether  the  same  cemetery  or  not  is  uncertain. 

In  the  Index  Oleorum,  the  catacomb  of  S.  Syxtus,  or  Systus,  is 
also  placed  on  this  road.  In  the  Saltzburg  Itinerary,  it  is  Agapetus, 
m.  and  deacon  of  S.  Syxtus,  as  already  given  from  William  of  Malmes¬ 
bury.  This  latter  is  probably  correct ;  that  of  S.  Systus  was  on  the 
Via  Appia. 


Bianchini,  de  Calendario  et  Cyclo 
Caesareo  ac  de  paschale  canone  S.  Hip- 
polyti  Martyris,  etc.  Folio.  Romse, 
*703- 

Vignolii,  de  Anno  primo  imperii  Se¬ 
ven  Alexandrini  Aug.  quem  prseferit 
cathedra  marmorea  S.  Hippolyti.  4to. 
Romse,  1712. 

Notes  historiques,  biographiques, 
archeologiques  et  litteraires  concer- 
nant  les  premiers  siecles  chretiens  par 
J.  G.  H.  Greppo.  8vo.  Lyon,  1841. 
(These  Notes  were  written  for  the 
CEuvres  choisies  de  S.  Jerome.  8  vols. 
8vo.  Lyon,  1841.  Only  a  few  copies 
of  the  Notes  were  printed  separately  ; 
they  contain  a  great  deal  of  valuable 
matter. 

Ch.  Car.  Josias  Bunsen,  Hippolytus 
and  his  Age  ;  or  the  Doctrine  and  Prac¬ 
tice  of  the  Church  of  Rome  under  Corn- 
modus  and  Alexander  Severus,  &c. 
London,  1852,  4  vols.  i2mo.  A  second 
edition,  enlarged,  appeared  in  1854, 
7  vols.  i2mo. ;  and  a  German  translation 
of  the  first  edition  was  printed  at  Leip¬ 
zig  in  1852-3,  2  vols.  8vo. 

r  Persons  not  acquainted  with  the 
legends  of  the  Roman  martyrs  have 
frequently  never  heard  of  any  other 
S.  Stephen  than  the  Proto-martyr  ;  but 
the  name  of  Stephen  was  always  a 
common  one,  and  it  is  perfectly  clear 
that  the  S.  Stephen  of  the  Roman 
Church  was  S.  Stephen  the  Deacon, 
one  of  the  martyrs  in  the  Persecution 
under  the  Emperors  Valerian  and  Gal- 
lienus,  towards  the  end  of  the  third 


century,  along  with  S.  Sixtus,  who 
was  called  Bishop  of  Rome  at  that 
time,  and  Pope.  The  words  of  the 
Pontifical  Registers  of  Sixtus  II.,  used 
by  Anastasius,  the  Pontifical  librarian, 
in  the  ninth  century,  are  quite  conclusive 
on  this  point : —  ‘  ‘  Eodem  tempore  hie 
[Sixtus  II.,  a.d. 259]  comprehensus  aVa- 
leriano,  et  ductus  ut  sacrificaret  dsemo- 
niis,  quia  contempsit  praecepta  Valeri  - 
ani,  capite  truncatus  est,  et  cum  eo  alii 
sex  diaconi,  Foelicissimus  et  Agapitus, 
Januarius  et  Magnus,  Vincentius  et  Ste- 
phanus,  sub  die  sexto  Idus  Augusti.  ” 
(Anast.  Bibl.,  25.)  In  the  Register  of 
Bishop  Simplicius  [a.d.  480]  it  is  also 
stated  that  he  dedicated  a  church  to  this 
S.  Stephen,  near  that  of  S.  Lorenzo  or 
Laurentius,  which  is  no  doubt  the  one 
of  which  we  have  the  remains,  “Hie 
dedicavit  aliam  basilican!  sancti  Stephani 
juxta  basilicam  sancti  Lauren-tii.” 

S.  Stephen,  Abbot  of  Rieti,  in  Italy, 
is  also  commemorated  in  the  Roman 
Martyrology  on  Feb.  13,  and  he  is 
mentioned  by  S.  Gregory. 

In  the  trial  of  S.  Cyprian  by  the  Pro- 
consul  Paternus,  that  magistrate  re¬ 
ferred  to  the  above  precepts  in  these 
terms: — “  Prseceperunt  etiam  (Valeri- 
anus  et  Gallienus)  ne  in  aliquibus 
locis  conciliabula  fiant,  nec  coemeteria 
ingrediantur.  Si  quis  itaque  hoc  tam 
salubre  praeceptum  non  observaverit, 
capite  plectetur.”  (Acta  Proconsularia, 
ap.  Bolland.  Acta  Sanctorum  Septem- 
bris,  tom.  iv.  p.  332,  col.  2,  F. ) 


VIII.  CATACOMBS  ON  THE  VIA  SALARIA 
VECCHIA 9. 


“The  second  is  the  Flaminian  gate,  which  is  now  called  the  gate  of  S.  Valen¬ 
tine,  and  the  Flaminian  way,  and  when  it  arrives  at  the  Milvian  bridge,  it  takes 
the  name  of  the  Ravennanian  way,  because  it  leads  to  Ravenna  ;  and  there,  at  the 
first  stone  without  the  gate,  S.  Valentine  rests  in  his  church1.” 

“The  fourth  is  the  Salarian  gate  and  way,  now  called  S.  Silvester’s.  Here, 
near  the  road,  lie  S.  Hermes  and  S.  Vasella,  and  Prothus  and  Jacinctus,  Maxi- 
lian,  Herculanus,  Crispus ;  and  in  another  place,  hard  by,  rest  the  holy  martyrs 
Pamphilus  and  Quirinus,  seventy  steps  beneath  the  surface.  Next  is  the  church 
of  S.  Felicitas,  where  she  rests,  and  Silanus,  her  son  ;  and  not  far  distant,  Boni¬ 
face  the  martyr.  In  another  church  there  are  Crisantus  and  Daria,  and  Satuminus 
and  Maurus,  and  Jason,  and  their  mother  Hilaria,  and  others  innumerable.  And 
in  another  church,  S.  Alexander,  Vitalis,  Martialis,  sons  of  S.  Felicitas;  and 
seven  holy  virgins,  Saturnina,  Hilarina,  Duranda,  Rogantina,  Serotina,  Paulina, 
Donata.  Next  the  church  of  S.  Silvester,  where  he  lies  under  a  marble  tomb  ; 
and  the  martyrs,  Celestinus,  Philippus,  and  Foelix  ;  and  there,  too,  the  three  hun¬ 
dred  and  sixty-five  martyrs  rest  in  one  sepulchre  ;  and,  near  them  lie  Paulus  and 
Crescentianus,  Prisca  and  Semetrius,  Praxides,  Potentiana".” 


On  the  Via  Flaminia,  at  a  little  more  than  a  mile  from  the  gate, 
are  the  catacombs  of  S.  Valentine.  They  are  on  the  right  of  the 
road  in  going  from  the  Porta  del  Popolo  towards  the  Ponte  Mallo, 
in  a  vineyard  belonging  to  the  Monastery  of  S.  Augustine. 

This  is  mentioned  in  the  Saltzburg  Itinerary,  with  a  notice  also 
of  a  large  church  or  chapel,  repaired  by  Honorius ;  and  other  martyrs 
were  buried  there*.  In  the  Wurtzburg  Epitome  it  is  also  mentioned, 
and  the  church  is  said  to  be  marvellously  ornamented y ;  but  neither 
the  catacomb  nor  the  church  are  mentioned  by  Anastasius. 

This  road  is  noted  as  having  been  made  illustrious  by  the  number 
of  glorious  martyrdoms  that  have  taken  place  upon  it.  Many  of  their 
bodies  were  thrown  into  the  Tiber,  and  their  names  do  not  appear 
to  be  those  of  any  very  celebrated  persons.  Getulius,  and  his  com- 


8  This  old  road  turns  off  to  the  left 
from  the  Via  Pinciana,  which  is  outside 
of  the  Porta  Pinciana,  at  the  Clivus  del 
Leoncino,  and  again  to  the  left  at  the 
Tre  Madonne.  The  Via  Salaria  Nova 
is  considerably  to  the  right  of  this. 

1  William  of  Malmesbury,  p.421. 
u  See  Will.  Malmesb.,  quarta  porta, 
in  the  Appendix  to  this  chapter. 


*  “  Ubi  S.  Valentinus  martyr  quiescit 
via  Flaminia  in  basilica  quam  Honorius 
reparavit,  et  alii  martyres  in  aquilino 
plaga  sub  terra.”  (Itin.  Salisb.,  ap.  De 
Rossi,  vol.  i.  p.  176. ) 

y  “  Juxta  viam  Flaminiam  apparet  ec- 
clesia  mirifice  ornata  S.  Valentini  m. . 
Epitome  Wirtzburg.  (Ibid.) 


SECT.  VIII.]  Via  Salaria  Vecchia. — S.  Hermes. 


109 


panions  Cerealis,  Amantius  and  Primitivus,  are  commemorated  in 
the  Roman  Martyrology  in  the  month  of  June.  Getulius  is  said  to 
have  been  burnt  on  this  road,  thirteen  miles  from  the  city,  and  his 
remains  collected  by  his  widow,  Symphorosa,  who  buried  them  in 
a  sand-pit  on  her  property  \  This  is  related  to  have  been  under  the 
Emperor  Valerian  (a.d.  253).  The  road  is  called  Via  Pincia  in  the 
Einsiedlen  Itinerary,  and  the  following  places  of  pilgrimage  on 
this  road  in  the  eighth  century  are  recorded, — SS.  Pamphilus,  Ba- 
silissa,  Protus,  Hyacinthus,  Hermes,  “where  the  Lord  gave  sight 
to  the  blind.” 

Both  the  Via  Salaria  Vecchia  and  the  Via  Salaria  Nova,  are  a  little 
to  the  east  of  the  Via  Flaminia,  and  of  the  Tiber,  before  arriving  at 
the  junction  with  the  river  Anio. 

S.  Hermes. 

The  catacomb  of  S.  Hermes  is  situated  at  about  half-a-mile  from 
the  Porta  del  Popolo  on  the  Via  Salaria  Vecchia,  high  up  on  the 
hill  called  Monti  Parioli.  At  the  entrance  to  this  catacomb  is 
a  large  and  lofty  chapel,  called  the  Chapel  of  Basilla,  with  a  lumi- 
nare  at  the  top,  in  front  of  the  apse  ;  the  nave,  or  body  of  the 
chapel,  is  of  three  bays,  with  arches  rebuilt,  and  the  apse  of  the  fourth 
century.  From  this  we  descend  into  the  catacomb,  made  in  a  very 
bad  soil,  much  worse  than  any  of  the  others,  a  soft  dark-coloured 
tufa;  it  is  in  a  very  bad  state  of  repair,  and  bears  all  the  marks 
of  having  always  been  used  by  the  poor  chiefly.  The  vaults  of  the 
tufa  rock  are  supported  in  many  places  by  brick  walls  of  very  bad 
construction,  some  of  the  fourth  century,  others  of  the  fifth.  In 
one  place  is  a  very  wide  low  arch  of  the  fourth,  by  the  side  of 
a  corridor,  with  a  transverse  wall  carried  across  the  middle  of  it, 
supporting  the  entrance  to  another  corridor,  and  this  is  covered  for 
a  short  distance,  a  few  feet  only,  with  a  triangular  vault  formed  of 
two  tiles  meeting  at  the  angular  point.  On  one  of  them  is  a  stamp, 
the  letters  of  which  may  be  distinguished,  “Offic[ium]  Domus . .  ibus.” 
This  work  looks  like  the  sixth  century. 

There  are  no  crypts  or  burial  chapels  ( cubicula )  in  this  catacomb, 
and  only  a  few  arco-solia,  or  tombs  with  recessed  arches  over  them,  on 
which  the  paintings  are  usually  found.  There,  are,  however,  a  few 
of  these,  and  one  very  remarkable  one,  with  remains  of  a  mosaic 
picture,  the  only  one  now  remaining  in  the  Catacombs.  Many  of  the 

*  “  Cujus  corpus  colligens  Sympho-  arenario  prsedii  sui.”  (Aringhi,  Roma 
rosa,  uxor  ejus,  honorifice  sepelivit  in  Sablerranea,  lib.  iii.  c.  32.) 


I IO 


Catacombs. — S.  Hermes. 


[SECT. 


tombs  have  straight  horizontal  brick  arches  over  them  of  the  fourth 
and  fifth  centuries ;  but  in  the  lowest  corridor  in  which  there  are 
three,  the  rock  is  harder,  and  the  brick  walls  and  arches  were  not 
required  and  not  used.  The  lowest  corridor  is  in  the  best  state  and 
the  most  interesting ;  the  upper  one  is  almost  dangerous,  and  the 
corridor  is  often  not  more  than  five  feet  high,  in  a  few  places  even 
less.  In  the  lowest  corridor  several  of  the  tombs  have  the  impres¬ 
sion  of  a  round  seal  or  stamp  on  the  plaster,  and  some  have  a  dif¬ 
ferent  rude  mark,  as  the  mark  of  the  fossores,  or  grave-diggers.  Some 
have  the  impression  of  an  ivory  ring,  one  has  a  fragment  of  one  of 
the  rings  left  in  the  plaster,  another  a  fragment  of  a  small  round 
ivory  tetotum  or  counter,  and  another  the  impression  of  an  egg, 
with  a  part  of  the  egg-shell  still  attached  to  the  plaster.  In  the 
church  and  in  the  upper  corridor  are  several  marble  slabs  with  Pagan 
inscriptions,  with  the  plaster  on  the  edges  and  at  the  back,  shewing 
that  they  have  not  been  used  a  second  time,  but  intended  to  be 
placed  against  the  wall  in  this  catacomb. 

An  arco-solium,  or  arched  tomb,  in  the  second  corridor,  has  some 
small  and  curious  paintings  of  very  rude  character,  probably  of  the 
sixth  or  seventh  century ;  round  the  edge  of  the  arch  are  very  small 
figures  of  Christ  and  the  twelve  Apostles,  all  seated  in  chairs,  the 
faces  without  beards  and  without  the  nimbus,  and  some  of  the  faces 
very  ugly.  On  the  soffit  of  the  arch  are  trees  with  birds  on  the 
branches  and  houses  under  them,  two  red  and  two  black,  one  of 
each  on  either  side  ;  those  on  the  left  continuous,  those  on  the  right 
dividing  at  a  brook  which  proceeds  from  a  cascade.  On  the  wall 
of  the  tomb  is  the  Good  Shepherd,  but  much  mutilated ;  the  head, 
however,  is  preserved.  On  another  arco-solium  are  three  figures  on 
the  wall  at  the  back :  the  central  one  is  Christ  seated  on  a  throne, 
with  steps  to  ascend  to  it,  holding  out  each  hand  to  an  Apostle,  who 
holds  a  scroll  or  book  ;  all  three  are  dressed  in  surplices  with  the 
black  border,  and  have  the  nimbus  over  their  heads.  On  the  soffit 
of  the  arch  on  the  right  are  the  three  Children  in  the  furnace,  on 
the  left  Daniel  and  the  lions. 

The  most  remarkable  feature  in  this  catacomb  is  the  mosaic 
picture,  or  rather  the  fragment  of  one,  for  a  portion  only  remains  of 
one  which  has  been  of  considerable  size.  The  work  is  of  very  rude 
character  in  drawing,  and  barbarous  execution,  not  very  early,  pro¬ 
bably  of  the  sixth  century.  It  is  on  the  soffit  of  the  arch  of  an  arco- 
solium i,  with  the  wall  behind  it.  On  the  right  is  Daniel  and  the  lions, 
in  a  small  square  panel,  under  one  arm  of  a  jewelled  cross,  with 
a  picture  in  each  of  the  panels.  The  outline  of  the  cross  is  a  broad 


VIII.] 


Via  Salaria. — Hermes. 


1 1 1 


red  line,  with  a  gold  ground,  and  jewels  upon  it.  The  mosaic  cubes 
are  entirely  of  glass  enamel,  not  marble ;  the  gold  is  laid  on  one  side 
of  the  glass,  but  not  glazed  over ;  as  to  the  ground  of  the  picture,  it  is 
alternately  blue  and  yellow.  On  the  soffit  of  the  arch  are  two 
figures,  much  mutilated  :  one,  from  the  attitude  and  costume,  seems 
to  be  one  of  the  Magi ;  the  one  on  the  other  side  was  probably  an¬ 
other  ;  the  central  figure  is  wanting,  but  must  in  this  case  have  been 
the  Madonna.  On  the  wall  under  the  arch  are  fragments  of  three 
figures :  one  of  the  heads  is  tolerably  perfect,  and  fine  of  its  kind, 
with  the  peculiar  expression  of  the  eyes  so  often  observed  in  mosaic 
pictures  of  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries  ;  the  upper  part  of  the 
other  two  heads  is  all  that  remains  of  the  other  figures,  but  this  is 
enough  to  shew  that  none  had  the  nimbus. 

It  is  difficult  to  distinguish  between  the  catacombs  on  the  Via 
Salaria ;  and  as  they  have  all  been  much  damaged  and  imperfectly 
excavated,  the  opinion  of  Aringhi  that  they  were  originally  all  one 
is  probably  correct.  This  of  S.  Hermes  was  often  called  by  other 
names,  from  other  martyrs  interred  in  it  along  with  him,  SS.  Basilla, 
Protus,  and  Hyacinthus.  S.  Hermes  is  said  to  have  been  one  of  the 
martyrs  in  the  third  persecution  under  the  Emperor  Hadrian  (?), 
along  with  Bishop  Alexander  and  others,  a.d.  119  ;  S.  Basilla  in  the 
eighth  persecution,  under  the  Emperors  Valerianus  and  Gallienus, 
a.d.  259;  Protus  and  Hyacinthus  at  the  same  period;  they  were 
eunuchs  and  slaves  of  S.  Eugenia a.  The  earliest  dated  inscription 
from  this  catacomb  that  is  known  is  of  a.d.  234;  another  tomb¬ 
stone  is  dated  298. 

In  the  time  of  Constantine,  Bishop  Silvester  is  said  to  have  spent 
a  large  sum  in  the  ornamentation  of  this  catacomb  or  cemetery,  and 
reducing  it  to  a  better  form.  We  are  probably  indebted  to  him  for 
the  subterranean  church  at  the  entrance.  Some  fragments  of  a  marble 
sarcophagus  b  and  sculptured  foliage  of  that  period  are  lying  about  in 
it.  The  cemetery  was  repaired  and  restored  by  Hadrian  I.,  a.d.  772, 
and  again  by  Nicholas  I.,  a.d.  860,  along  with  that  of  Priscilla  and 
others.  The  relics  of  Hermes,  Protus,  and  Hyacinthus  appear  to 
have  been  translated  into  Gaul  by  Gregory  IV.,  a.d.  827,  in  the  time 
of  Charlemagne,  as  related  by  Eginhard  ;  but  William  of  Malmes¬ 
bury  states  that  those  of  Hermes  were  carried  to  the  church  of 


a  For  further  particulars  respecting 
the  paintings  in  the  Catacomb  of  S. 
Hermes,  see  the  Appendix,  Bosio, 
p.  561  to  571.  Hermes  is  not  men¬ 
tioned  in  Anastasius  as  one  of  the 
martyrs  who  suffered  with  S.  Alex¬ 


ander  ;  but  Eventius  and  Theodoras 
only.  The  restoration  by  Hadrian  I. 
is  mentioned  (345). 

b  Perhaps  this  was  the  marble  tomb 
or  sarcophagus  of  Bishop  Silvester 
spoken  of  by  William  of  Malmesbury. 


I  12 


Catacombs. — wS^S.  Saturninus  and  Thrason.  [sect. 


S.  Marcus,  in  Rome,  by  the  same  Pontiff,  where  they  are  said  still 
to  remain.  Those  of  Protus  and  Hyacinthus  are  also  said  to  have 
been  translated,  by  Clement  VIII.,  from  the  church  of  S.  Salvator 
in  Rome  to  the  church  of  S.  John  Baptist  de ’  Fiorentini  in  Rome, 
and  those  of  S.  Basilla  to  the  church  of  S.  Praxedes  by  Paschal  I. 

Notwithstanding  these  distinct  statements  that  the  relics  of  these 
martyrs  had  been  translated  to  various  churches  centuries  ago,  in 
the  year  1845  Father  Marchi  found  distinct  proof  that  at  least  one 
of  them  had  not  been  moved  at  all.  On  a  stone  enclosing  a  grave, 

unopened,  he  found  the  inscription — d  p.  hi.  idvs  septembr . 

yacintvs  .  martir.,  and  near  it,  in  moving  the  earth  then  just  ex¬ 
cavated,  he  found  the  fragment  of  another  inscription  with  the  words 

sepvlchrvm  proti  M . c.  In  the  church  of  S.  Salvatore  there  is 

an  inscription  on  a  stone  of  the  pavement  stating  that  the  relics  of 
S.  Protus  and  S.  Hyacinthus  repose  under  that  stone.  They  also 
have  half  of  an  inscription  of  Damasus  recording  the  names  of  Protus 
and  Hyacinthus,  the  other  half  of  which  is  in  the  church  of  the  Santi 
Quattro  Coronati,  where  parts  of  these  relics  were  placed  by  Leo  IV. 
The  relics  were  divided  between  the  two  churches,  and  the  stone 
was  broken  in  two,  half  being  given  to  each ;  but  it  appears  now  evi¬ 
dent  that  no  reliance  can  be  placed  on  the  authenticity  of  the  relics 
of  these  martyrs.  Here  the  remains  were  found  in  their  original  place 
after,  apparently,  the  most  distinct  evidence  that  they  had  been 
removed.  De  Rossi  explains  this  away  in  a  very  clever  and  ingenious 
manner ;  but  the  facts  remain,  and  are  not  very  satisfactory  to  those 
who  have  faith  in  relics  d. 


SS.  Saturninus  and  Thrason. 

The  construction  of  this  catacomb  has  been  already  described. 
(Sect.  IV.  p.  39.)  The  chapels  or  cubicula  are  mostly  small,  pro¬ 
bably  on  account  of  the  hardness  of  the  stone.  The  paintings  are 
of  the  fourth  century  and  later,  and  the  subjects  the  usual  ones  : — 
the  raising  of  Lazarus,  Noah  in  the  ark  with  two  doves,  Daniel  and 
the  lions,  Moses  striking  the  rock,  Tobit  and  the  angel  with  the  fish, 


*  The  inscription  of  Damasus,  pre¬ 
served  in  the  Einsiedlen  Itinerary,  re¬ 
cords  that  SS.  Protus  and  Hyacinthus 
were  buried  here.  This  catacomb  was 
then  called  after  S.  Stephen  the  Proto¬ 
martyr,  and  the  road  called  Via  Pincia. 
The  Chronicle  also  records  that  Leo- 
pardus  presbyter  ornamented  this  cata¬ 


comb,  but  does  not  mention  the  date 
of  Leopardus  ;  it  is  probable  that  he 
was  of  the  time  of  the  writer,  and 
that  it  is  to  him  we  are  indebted  for 
some  of  the  paintings  of  the  eighth 
century. 

d  See  De  Rossi,  and  Northcote,  pp. 
379  to  383. 


VIII.]  Via  Salaria. — SS.  Saturninus  and  Thrason. 


113 


the  three  Children  in  “  the  burning  fiery  furnace.”  On  one  of  the 
tombs  in  the  second  corridor  are  two  orantes  perfect,  female  figures 
in  long  robes  of  a  light  red  colour,  with  black  stripes  or  borders 
resembling  stoles,  and  crowns  on  their  heads ;  one  of  these  dresses 
is  very  richly  ornamented,  the  other  plain.  These  figures  are  at  each 
end  of  the  tomb, — (with  Scripture  subjects,  Jonah  under  the  ivy-bush, 
and  Moses  striking  the  rock — between  them) ;  they  are  supposed  to 
be  portraits  of  the  persons  interred.  The  drawing  of  the  figures  on 
this  fresco  painting,  and  the  costumes  of  the  ladies,  clearly  indicate 
the  time  of  the  restoration  by  Hadrian,  a.d.  772.  On  another  tomb, 
one  of  the  figures  of  the  same  period  holds  the  scroll  of  an  inscrip¬ 
tion,  also  painted  with  the  words,  “  Dormitio  Silvestri.”  Some  frag¬ 
ments  of  incised  marble  inscriptions  remain,  and  pieces  of  some 
terra-cotta  lamps,  with  the  recess  and  shelf  for  many  others  and  for 
the  small  phials  called  lachrymatories.  There  are  also  in  some  places 
concha  shells,  one  of  which  has  the  inside  gilt,  probably  as  a  re¬ 
flector  to  a  lamp. 

S.  Thrason  is  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  martyrs  in  the  time  of 
Diocletian,  along  with  two  others,  Pontianus  and  Prcetextatus,  all 
of  them  Christian  labourers  in  the  thermce  and  other  works,  put  to 
death  by  order  of  Maximianus,  c.  a.d.  300  e.  They  were  all  interred 
in  separate  catacombs;  and  after  “the  peace  of  the  Church,”  a.d. 
314,  chapels  were  erected  in  their  honour,  which  were  afterwards 
painted  and  decorated  by  pious  pilgrims.  Many  of  these  paintings 
remain,  though  generally  much  damaged  and  decayed.  It  was  con¬ 
sidered  an  honour  to  be  interred  near  to  the  remains  of  a  martyr, 
as  has  been  stated.  This  honour  was  much  sought  after  in  the  fourth 
and  fifth  centuries,  and  the  families  of  persons  so  interred  were 
naturally  willing  and  anxious  to  decorate  their  burial-places.  Thrason 
is  said  to  have  been  baptized  by  Bishop  Caius,  a.d.  283—296,  and 
to  have  been  the  friend  of  S.  Maximus f,  a  senator  and  a  man  in 


*  “Romse  passio  S.  Thrasonis,  qui 
cum  Christianos  laborantes  in  Thermis 
aliisque  operibus  haberet,  jubente  Maxi- 
miano  tentus,  cum  aliis  duobus,  Pontiano 
et  Prsetextato,  martyrio  coronatus  est.  ” 
(Martyrol.  Rom.  11  Dec.,  ap.  Petr,  de 
Nat.,  lib.  x.  cap.  58.) 

“Eodem  die  dedit  eis  capitalem 
sententiam  subire.  Et  deposit!  de 
Esquileo  ducti  sunt  Via  Nomentana, 
milliario  secundo  ;  et  ibi  capite  sunt 
truncati.  Quorum  corpora  collegit  Thra¬ 
son  cum  Joanne  Presbytero,  et  sepeli- 
vit  in  praedio  suo,  Via  Salaria,  sub  die 
quarto  Kalendarum  Decembris.”  (Cod. 


S.Csecil.) 

f  “Maximus  autem  omnia  noctu  ve- 
nundabat  facultatem  suam  per  quendam 
amicum  suum,  Thrasonem,  Christianissi- 
mum  togatum,  qui  occulte  adsidebat, 
publice  habens  in  corde  suo  cum  reve- 
rentia  Religionem  Christianam,  quern 
ante  multos  annos  Caius  Episcopus  bap- 
tizaverat,  qui  magis  gesta  Marty  rum 
Sanctorum  colligens  ornabat,  et  omnia 
nocturnis  temporibus  Christianis  eroga- 
bat,  circumiens  per  vicos  et  carceres 
et  custodias.”  (Cod.  S.  Csecil.  ap.  Petr. 
Natal.,  lib.  vii.  c.  49.) 


I 


Catacombs . — S.  Priscilla. 


[SECT. 


114 

power,  and  of  high  character.  He  also  supported  the  Christians,  and 
helped  to  feed  with  his  own  hands  the  martyrs  Sisinius,  Ciriacus, 
Smaragdus,  and  Largus s ;  and  when  two  other  martyrs,  SS.  Satur- 
ninus  and  Sisinius,  were  led  from  the  court  on  the  Esquiline,  and 
beheaded  at  the  second  mile  on  the  Via  Salaria,  he,  with  John  the 
priest,  collected  their  remains,  and  buried  them  in  his  meadow  in 
the  same  neighbourhood.  A  church  was  afterwards  erected  in  honour 
of  S.  Saturninus,  over  the  place  where  he  was  buried.  This  chapel 
was  also  ornamented  by  Damasus,  and  the  inscription  he  placed 
there  is  preserved.  Tombstones  dated  a.d.  269  and  279  have  been 
found  in  this  catacomb.  This  church  of  S.  Saturninus  was  restored 
by  Felix  IV.,  and  again  by  Hadrian  I.  and  Gregory  IV. 

In  a  bull  of  Nicholas  IV.,  preserved  in  the  Vatican  archives,  cer¬ 
tain  indulgences  are  granted  to  it,  which  is  then  described  as  in 
the  cemetery  of  Priscilla  and  Basilla  :  which  shews  that  this  of  Thra- 
son  was  part  of  the  same  extensive  Catacomb. 

This  building  being  destroyed  during  the  calamitous  period,  the 
body  of  S.  Saturninus  was  translated  to  the  Titulus  of  Pammachus, 
now  called  the  church  of  S.  John  and  S.  Paul,  and  his  head  to  the 
Titulus  of  Eudoxia,  now  known  as  of  S.  Peter  ad  vincula.  The 
bodies  of  S.  Sisinius  and  S.Thrason  were  translated  by  Sergius  II.  to 
the  Titulus  of  Equitius,  now  S.  Martino  ai  Monti h. 


S.  Priscilla. 

The  construction  of  this  catacomb  has  been  partly  described  in  our 
chapter  on  that  subject1.  One  entrance  to  it,  not  now  used,  is  through 
an  ancient  arenarium  or  sand-pit  gallery j,  with  the  catacomb  made 
under  it  in  some  parts,  and  corridors  on  the  same  level  in  other  parts. 
In  some  places  the  passages  or  corridors  are  cut  in  the  rock,  leading 
from  the  sand-pit  to  the  catacomb,  but  have  no  tombs  cut  in  them, 
though  evidently  prepared  for  this  purpose.  Some  of  the  tombs  are 
unopened,  and  two  of  them  have  names  painted  in  red  on  the  tiles 


e  “In  ipso  itaque  tempore  erat  vir 
Cliristianissimtts,  nomine  Thrason,  vir 
potens,  et  facultatibus  locuples,  et  vita 
fidelis.  Hie  cum  vidisset  affligi  Chris- 
tianos  in  fatigatione  et  labore,  coepit 
de  sua  facultate  sanctis  Martyribus 
alimoniam  et  victum  ministrare  per 
manus  virorum  Christianorum  Sisinii, 
Ciriaci,  et  Smaragdi,  et  Largi,”  (Cod. 
S.  Caecil.) 

h  For  further  information  respecting 
this  catacomb,  see  the  Appendix  to 
Marangoni,  de  Ccemeterio  Sanctorum 


Tkrasonis  et  Saturnini ;  also  his  Disser- 
tazioni,  See.  Faenza,  1785,  4to.  2  vols. 

*  See  Sect.  IV. 

j  The  old  spectis  of  an  aqueduct  passes 
through  the  sand-pit,  near  the  en¬ 
trance,  as  previously  mentioned  ;  it  is  a 
tunnel  cut  out  of  the  rock,  of  the  usual 
dimensions,  6  ft.  deep  and  nearly  3  ft. 
wide,  but  filled  up  to  more  than  half 
its  depth  with  a  bed  of  fine  clay,  evi¬ 
dently  a  deposit  from  the  muddy  water 
passing  through  it. 


VIII.] 


Via  Salaria  Nova . — >S.  Priscilla. 


115 


that  cover  the  aperture.  There  is  nothing  to  indicate  any  very  early 
date  for  the  catacomb,  none  of  the  paintings  appearing  to  be  earlier 
than  the  time  of  the  restoration  by  John  I.,  a.d.  523.  Most  of  those 
published  by  Bosio  and  others  after  him  remain,  but  generally  in 
a  bad  state,  much  damaged  in  various  ways,  and  often  very  black. 

According  to  the  Roman  legends,  Priscilla  is  said  to  have  been  the 
mother  of  Pudens ;  and  as  this  catacomb  is  named  after  her,  and 
the  chapel  in  which  tiie  paintings  are  found  is  the  first  after  descend¬ 
ing  the  steps  into  the  catacomb,  after  a  passage  only,  it  would  seem 
probable  that  this  was  the  burial-place  of  the  person  after  whom  the 
catacomb  is  named.  It  is,  however,  stated  in  Anastasiusk  that 
this  cemetery  was  made  by  S.  Marcellus,  a.d.  307.  The  whole 
legendary  history  of  this  cemetery  and  chapel  is  of  very  doubtful 
authority ;  there  is  no  evidence  that  it  was  the  burying-place  of  the 
Pudens  family,  or  that  the  paintings  relate  to  them. 

These  are  on  the  walls  on  either  side  and  over  the  doorway; 
on  the  right  hand,  they  represent  a  lady  coming  out  of  a  wooden 
house  or  cottage,  with  a  curtain  over  the  door,  she  then  appears  in 
the  centre  of  the  picture  standing  as  an  orante,  with  her  arms  raised 
in  the  attitude  of  prayer.  This  figure  is  called  a  Madonna,  without 
any  apparent  reason.  She  is  next  represented  in  conversation  with 
two  men,  their  hands  extended  horizontally  as  addressing  her ;  on 
the  opposite  side,  she  is  again  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  picture 
as  an  orante ;  on  her  left  hand  are  two  figures,  one  of  whom  appears 
to  be  leading  her  forward.  On  the  left,  she  comes  again  between 
two  male  figures,  apparently  two  Apostles,  leading  her  into  heaven, 
a  well-known  subject  in  the  catacombs  both  in  the  paintings  and  in 
the  figures  on  the  glasses.  The  drawing  of  the  figures  is  extremely 
rude,  not  at  all  like  the  beautiful  works  of  art  in  the  Pagan  tombs 
of  the  first  or  second  century  in  Rome,  such  as  those  in  the  Pyramid 
of  Cestius  or  in  the  tombs  on  the  Via  Latina.  The  costume  is  singu¬ 
larly  plain ;  the  male  figures  wear  the  tunic  only,  without  any  border 
or  stole,  and  the  tunic  is  so  short  that  the  bare  legs  are  shewn. 
The  female  figures  are  attired  in  long  plain  robes  covering  the  feet ; 
all  the  dresses  are  tinged  with  a  pale  red  colour1,  but  there  is  no 
other  colouring. 


k  “Marcellus  .  .  .  fuit  autem  tem- 
poribus  Constantii  et  Galerii  et  Maxentii, 
e  consulatu  Maxentii  quarto  et  Maximi 
usque  ad  consulatum.  Hie  rogavit 
quamdam  matronam  nomine  Priscillam, 
et  fecit  coemeteria  Via  Salaria.  .  .  .  Cujus 
corpus  collegit  beata  Lucina,  et  sepe- 


livit  in  ccemeterio  Priscilla?,  Via  Sala¬ 
ria,”  &c.  (Anastas.,  xxxi.  31.) 

1  It  may  be  well  to  mention  that, 
according  to  a  statute  of  Pope  Euty- 
chianus  (a.d.  275 — 283),  no  martyr 
should  be  buried  without  a  purple  dal¬ 
matic  or  tunic.  See  Anastas., xxviii.  28. 


Catacombs. — S.  Priscilla. 


[SECT. 


i  16 


Another  entrance  was  at  some  distance  from  the  present  one, 
by  a  flight  of  steps,  which  remain,  though  the  upper  part  is  blocked 
up  with  a  wall  and  earth,  and  it  can  only  be  seen  from  below,  near 
the  chapel  called  the  Cappella  Greca,  said  to  be  that  of  the  Pudens 
family.  In  the  wall  by  the  side  of  the  steps  is  a  brick  arch  of  the 
third  century,  with  later  alterations ;  and  in  the  catacomb  itself,  near 
the  chapel,  a  wall  of  the  third  century  can  be  seen  behind  later 
work  attributed  to  Bishop  Damasus.  Many  of  the  decorations  of 
the  chapels  appear  to  be  of  his  time,  or  later,  probably  of  the 
time  of  John  I.,  a.d.  523,  who  renewed  it,  as  we  have  shewn  in 
our  Chronological  Table. 

Upon  the  end  wall,  on  a  low  arch,  are  the  three  Children  in  “the 
burning  fiery  furnace.”  The  arch  is  ornamented  with  stucco  patterns 
of  rude,  shallow,  clumsy  work,  of  the  third  or  fourth  century.  On 
the  floor  of  this  are  the  fragments  of  a  small  sarcophagus,  also  of  the 
fourth  century,  with  shallow  carvings,  among  which  is  Jonah  under 
the  gourd,  and  on  another  the  whale  or  dolphin,  of  the  usual  type. 
The  lines  of  ornament  dividing  the  panels  on  the  wall  are  broad  and 
flat,  some  hollow  in  the  stucco,  others  painted  red,  quite  different 
from  the  thin  lines,  or  the  double  lines  of  the  first  century.  On 
the  floor  of  the  chapel  are  many  fragments  of  the  large  tiles  of  the 
Empire,  some  of  which  bear  stamps  upon  them. 

One  chapel  near  that  of  the  Pudens  family  has  the  remains  of 
an  altar  in  it,  sufficient  to  shew  the  old  arrangement;  it  is  about 
thirteen  feet  square,  with  the  altar  in  an  apse  projecting  from  it ; 
a  sarcophagus  has  been  used  for  this  purpose.  There  is  an  opening 
at  one  end  of  this  for  the  priest  to  pass,  and  just  room  enough  for 
him  to  stand  in  the  apse  behind  it ;  he  must  have  officiated  behind 
the  altar,  as  was  the  custom  in  all  the  early  churches  before  the 
fourth  century.  The  chapel  is  very  plain,  but  has  been  a  platonia, 
that  is,  had  the  walls  covered  entirely  with  slabs  or  plates  of  marble. 
Some  portions  of  them  remain,  and  the  plaster  has  evidently  had 
marble  plates  fixed  up  against  it,  both  from  the  appearance  of 
the  plaster  and  from  the  nails,  many  of  which  remain  projecting 
from  it ;  unless  in  this,  as  in  the  adjoining  chapel,  plates  of  hard 
stucco  were  used  instead  of  marble.  The  fact  of  their  having 
been  all  carried  away  to  be  used  elsewhere,  indicates  however  that 
in  this  chapel  rich  marble  was  used ;  in  the  other,  where  the  imita¬ 
tion  was  used,  it  was  suffered  to  remain.  It  may  probably  be  of  the 
end  of  the  third  century  or  the  beginning  of  the  fourth.  It  is  full  of 
graves  in  all  parts,  even  behind  the  altar,  which  was  itself  probably 
the  tomb  of  a  martyr ;  and  as  the  chapel  of  the  Pudens  family  opens 


VIII.] 


Via  Salaria  Nova . — .S'.  Priscilla. 


n  7 


out  of  this,  S.  Priscilla  may  very  probably  have  been  interred  here, 
if  the  legendary  history  can  be  relied  on. 

This  chapel  is  oblong,  and  forms  a  passage  between  the  one 
where  the  altar  remains,  and  another  larger  one,  called  a  basilica, 
with  three  apses,  one  at  the  end,  and  one  on  each  side,  forming  the 
head  and  arms  of  a  cross  ;  these  may  have  been  merely  arched 
tombs,  or  may  have  had  altars  in  them  (of  which,  however,  there 
are  no  traces).  On  the  vault  of  one  of  these  are  two  inscriptions, 
painted  in  Greek  characters.  The  left  hand  transept  is  square,  and 
not  rounded  at  the  end,  as  the  other  two  are. 

The  paintings  on  the  vault  are  the  Good  Shepherd ;  on  the  walls 
or  sides  of  the  vault  are  four  orantes,  and  the  same  number  of  birds, 
perhaps  doves.  The  lines  dividing  the  panels  are  here  thinner,  and 
some  of  them  in  dots ;  this  is  of  earlier  character  than  the  others. 

In  another  chapel  is  a  painting  representing  three  barrels  of  wine, 
two  on  the  ground,  the  third  being  carried  by  seven  men  to  shew  its 
large  size ;  this  painting  is  probably  of  the  sixth  century  m.  In  an¬ 
other  chapel,  with  the  Good  Shepherd  in  the  centre  of  the  vault, 
as  usual,  is  a  Madonna  seated  with  the  Child  in  her  arms,  and  one 
of  the  Magi ;  the  rest  of  the  painting  is  mutilated.  This  painting 
appears  to  be  of  the  same  period. 

Part  of  this  catacomb  seems  to  have  been  used  as  a  sand-pit 
gallery  again,  after  it  had  been  deserted  as  a  catacomb,  and  the 
graves  have  been  cut  away  to  widen  the  passage  to  admit  carts. 
Although  this  catacomb  is  very  extensive,  it  is  all  nearly  on  a  level ; 
but  in  one  part,  near  the  chapel  of  the  Pudens  family,  there  is 
a  lower  gallery  of  earlier  character,  in  a  very  bad  state,  not  altered 
or  restored  as  the  upper  part  is.  There  is,  indeed,  a  fine  staircase 
made  to  it,  with  a  balustrade  of  pierced  marble,  in  imitation n  of 
the  work  of  the  early  Emperors ;  but  this  grand  approach  is  only 
for  theatrical  effect  in  a  picture  of  it,  and  leads  to  nothing  but  the 
ruined  old  catacomb. 

An  inscription  of  the  year  204,  from  the  gravestone  of  a  loculus  in 
this  catacomb,  was  published  by  Signor  de  Rossi.  In  the  excava¬ 
tions  made  by  him  in  1870  in  the  catacomb  of  Priscilla,  many  other 
inscriptions  were  found,  some  of  them  in  Greek,  others  in  Latin, 
sometimes  painted  with  vermillion  on  the  tiles  with  which  the  graves 


m  Allegorical  meanings  are  attached 
to  this  subject  by  one  party,  while  an¬ 
other  considers  it  only  as  the  burial- 
place  of  a  wine-merchant.  For  more 
full  particulars  of  the  paintings  in  the 
catacomb  of  S.  Priscilla,  see  the  Ap¬ 


pendix,  Bosio,  Roma  Sotterranea,  p.  489 
to  557;  and  Perret,  les  Catacombes  de 
Rome ,  vol.  iii.  p.  1  to  13. 

11  An  engraving  of  this  imitation  is 
given  by  Signor  de  Rossi  in  his  Roma 
Sotterranea. 


1 1 8 


Catacombs. — S.  Felicitas. 


[SECT.  VIII. 


or  loculi  are  closed.  A  mixture  of  Greek  and  Latin  inscriptions 
has  often  been  seen  before0,  and  such  remain  in  the  Jews’  catacomb. 
They  indicate  a  late  date  rather  than  an  early  one,  probably  the 
fourth  century. 

Panvinius  calls  the  catacomb  “  Sa  Priscilla  alias  S.  Marcelli  papae, 
Via  Salaria  veteri-"  also  “  Novella,”  at  the  third  mile  on  the  Via 
Salaria.  These  two  ancient  roads — the  Via  Salaria  Vetus  and  Nova — 
are  in  parts  near  together  and  the  catacombs  between  them,  so  that 
it  is  impossible  to  say  to  which  road  each  belongs. 


S.  Felicitas. 

The  catacomb  of  S.  Felicitas  is  about  half-a-mile  outside  of  the 
Porta  Salaria  on  the  Via  Salaria  Nova,  to  the  right  hand  in  going 
from  Rome.  It  was  restored  in  419  by  S.  Boniface,  in  523  by  John  I., 
and  in  772  by  Hadrian  I. 

The  Via  Salaria  Vetus  appears  to  be  the  road  called  by  William  of 
Malmesbury  Porcinicina ,  (evidently  an  error  for  Pinciana,)  of  which 
he  gives  the  following  account : — 

‘  ‘  The  third  is  called  the  Porcinian  gate,  and  the  way  the  same  ;  but  where  it 
joins  to  the  Salarian,  it  loses  its  name,  and  there,  nearly  in  the  spot  which  is  called 
Cucumeris,  lie  the  martyrs  Festus,  Johannes,  Liberalis,  Diogenes,  Blastus,  Lucina, 
and  in  one  sepulchre,  the  two  hundred  and  sixty  p,  in  another,  the  thirty  q.” 


0  The  number  of  Greek  inhabitants 
and  Greek  soldiers  in  Rome  in  the  third 
century,  just  before  the  transfer  of  the 
seat  of  Empire  to  Byzantium,  is  in¬ 
dicated  in  many  ways,  such  as  the 
graffiti  or  names  scratched  in  the  plas¬ 
ter  of  the  walls  of  the  barracks  of  the 
guards.  Of  course  many  of  these  must 
have  died  in  Rome,  and  the  Catacombs 
were  then  the  usual  place  of  burial. 
It  does  not  follow  that  they  were  Chris¬ 
tians  ;  they  may  or  may  not  have  been 


so ;  there  is  abundant  evidence  that 
many  Christian  martyrs  and  other  Chris¬ 
tians  were  interred  there,  without  any 
necessity  for  proving  that  all  who  were 
buried  there  were  martyrs,  or  even 
Christians. 

p  The  two  hundred  and  sixty  are 
said  to  have  been  shot  with  arrows  in 
the  amphitheatre,  by  order  of  Claudius. 
See  our  Chronological  Table,  a.d.  290. 

1  The  thirty  suffered  under  Diocle¬ 
tian.  (William  of  Malmesbury,  p.421.) 


IX.  CATACOMBS  OF  THE  JEWS. 

Jews’  Catacomb,  Via  Appia. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  to  the  catacomb  of  S.  Sebastian, 
and  a  little  nearer  to  Rome,  is  the  catacomb  of  the  J ews,  discovered 
or  re-opened  only  in  i86or.  It  is  more  perfect  than  most  of  the 
others,  more  things  being  left  in  their  original  places  ;  and  it  contains 
two  painted  chapels  of  early  character,  as  good  as  any  that  have  been 
found  in  the  other  catacombs.  Nearly  all  the  inscriptions  have  the 
seven-branched  candlestick,  the  distinctive  mark  of  the  Jew s,  and  many 
more  of  these  tombstones  also  are  left  in  their  places  than  in  any 
of  the  others.  There  are  several  sarcophagi,  one  of  which  appears  to 
be  distinctly  Pagan,  having  among  the  sculptures  a  figure  holding 
the  inverted  torch  ;  another  appears  to  be  Christian,  with  a  figure 
of  Christ  in  the  act  of  benediction.  The  paintings  in  one  of  the 
painted  chapels  are  of  the  second  century;  there  is  nothing  in 
them  that  is  distinctly  Jewish,  and  some  of  the  emblems  are 
those  usually  considered  as  Christian,  such  as  the  peacock,  two 
birds  with  a  vase  between  them,  and  others.  Several  of  the  in¬ 
scriptions  have  the  palm-branch,  usually  said  to  be  the  mark  of 
a  martyr,  but  also  one  of  the  characteristics  of  a  Jew1.  One  of  the 
family  chapels  ( cubicula )  in  this  catacomb  has  a  palm-tree  painted 
on  each  of  the  four  corners,  and  many  of  the  slabs  have  the  palm- 
branch  incised  upon  them,  sometimes  on  the  same  slab  as  the  seven- 
branched  candlestick,  or  candelabrum.  Most  of  the  inscriptions  are 
rudely  cut  in  Greek  letters ;  but  the  words  of  some  are  Latin,  of 
others  Hebrew,  and  some  are  Hebrew  in  the  Latin  characters. 


r  The  Jews’  catacomb  described  by 
Bosio  and  Aringhi  (cap.  1 8),  is  the  one 
on  the  Via  Portuensis,  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Tiber  ;  and  they  do  not  mention 
another  on  this  road,  where  two  have 
since  been  found. 

8  This  well-known  emblem  of  a  Jew, 
which  is  seen  in  sculpture  on  the  Arch 
of  Titus  as  a  characteristic  of  the  nation, 
has  its  origin  in  Scripture,  according 
to  the  description  in  the  Book  of  Ex¬ 
odus,  xxv.  31,  32,  and  in  Zechariah, 
chap.  iv.  ver.  2,  3.  The  two  olive-trees 
mentioned  in  that  chapter  as  on  each 
side  of  the  candlestick,  are  also  some¬ 
times  represented  both  on  the  incised 


tombstones  and  on  the  gilt  patterns  on 
glass  vases  found  in  the  Jews’  cata¬ 
comb.  There  is  an  engraving  of  one 
in  the  pamphlet  of  Padre  Garrucci,  pub¬ 
lished  at  Rome  soon  after  the  discovery. 
The  inscriptions  on  the  tombstones,  and 
other  emblems  incised  upon  them,  are 
given  in  the  same  work,  entitled  ‘  ‘  Ci- 
mitero  degli  antichi  Ebrei  scoperto  re- 
centemente  in  Vigna  Randanini,  illus- 
trato  per  Raffaele  Garrucci,  D.  C.  D.  G.  ” 
Roma,  8vo.,  1862. 

1  On  a  coin  of  Vespasian  is  a  figure 
of  Judea  weeping  under  a  palm-tree. 
See  Fr.  W.  Madden,  History  of  Jewish 
Coinage,  &c.,  pp.  183 — 196. 


120 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


At  the  principal  entrance  u  is  a  chamber,  now  uncovered,  but  ori¬ 
ginally  vaulted,  with  a  good  mosaic  pavement,  in  which  are  drains 
for  letting  water  run  off.  This  appears  to  have  been  the  place  for 
washing  the  bodies,  and  in  the  adjoining  chamber  was  a  lavatory 
for  ablution,  now  destroyed.  The  greater  part  of  the  catacomb  is, 
as  usual,  merely  dug  out  of  the  soft  rock,  and  of  course  has  nothing 
to  indicate  a  date,  nor  are  there  any  dates  to  the  inscriptions ;  but 
what  architectural  character  there  is  in  the  upper  part  belongs  to 
the  first  century,  as  well  as  the  brickwork  of  the  recesses  round  the 
washing-chamber,  with  a  wall  of  reticulated  masonry,  and  several 
doorways  of  ashlar.  Here  also  each  successive  corridor  one  under 
the  other  is  of  a  later  date,  and  considerably  later.  In  this  cata¬ 
comb  the  same  system  of  family  burying-places  is  employed  as  in 
the  others ;  and  it  appears  that  in  cases  of  intermarriages  it  was 
considered  that  the  right  of  sepulture  in  the  family  burying-place 
was  not  forfeited.  Respecting  the  Pagan  sarcophagi  in  some  of  the 
chapels,  it  has  been  suggested  that  these  may  have  been  used  again, 
as  the  remains  of  many  Christian  bishops  of  the  twelfth  and  thir¬ 
teenth  centuries  are  found  in  rich  Pagan  sarcophagi,  for  instance 
at  Salerno  ;  but  this  implies  that  the  catacomb  was  used  at  a  much 
later  period  than  is  probable.  Another  suggestion  is  that  the  sarco¬ 
phagi  were  an  article  of  manufacture  kept  ready  made,  and  that  one 
may  have  been  bought  in  a  hurry  without  considering  the  Pagan 
emblems  upon  it;  but  it  does  not  seem  likely  that  any  Jew  would 
be  so  careless  in  such  a  matter.  At  another  entrance,  now  used  as 
the  exit,  is  a  wall  of  the  fourth  century,  so  that  it  appears  to  have 
continued  in  use  for  the  first  four  centuries,  and  not  to  have  been 
exclusively,  though  chiefly,  confined  to  the  Jews. 

In  some  parts  of  the  catacomb,  the  loculi  or  holes  for  bodies  are 
arranged  in  such  a  manner  that  one  end  is  towards  the  passage, 
as  in  the  catacomb  of  the  Scipios,  instead  of  the  side,  as  usual 
in  the  Christian  catacombs  ;  sometimes  both  plans  are  adopted  within 
a  few  yards  of  each  other.  Ledges  are  cut  or  built  for  placing  three 
or  four  coffins,  one  over  the  other,  in  the  same  vault ;  and  in  some 
places  bodies  are  buried  in  the  floor  of  the  passages.  In  most  parts 
there  are  indications  of  great  poverty,  and  a  crowding  of  the  bodies 
to  save  expense.  The  same  may  be  observed  in  most  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  catacombs  also. 

*  Near  the  entrance  to  this  catacomb,  scarcely  any  mortar  between  the  joints, 
and  in  the  same  vineyard,  is  a  square  Within  are  niches  for  figures,  some 
tomb  of  the  first  century  of  the  Chris-  round-headed,  others  square, 
tian  era,  of  excellent  brickwork,  with 


IX.]  The  Jews'  Catacomb  on  the  Via  Portuensis. 


1 2 1 


The  Jews’  Catacomb  on  the  Via  Portuensis. 

The  hill  in  which  this  catacomb  is  situated  is  part  of  the  Monte 
Verde,  or  Janiculum,  outside  of  the  Porta  Portuensis,  or  Portese,  in 
the  Trastevere,  near  the  quarter  formerly  occupied  by  the  Jews, 
where  the  hired  house  of  S.  Paul  is  said  by  some  authorities  to 
have  been  situated.  This  catacomb  is  described  by  Bosio  (lib.  i. 
c.  1 8),  but  is  now  covered  up  again. 

During  his  researches  he  found,  in  1602,  another  catacomb  on 
this  road,  in  a  hill  on  the  bank  of  the  Tiber,  called  Rosato,  with 
several  inscriptions  or  tombstones  of  the  Jews,  and  the  seven- 
branched  candlestick  both  on  the  tombstones  and  on  lamps.  It 
was  of  very  rude  and  early  construction,  and  the  inscriptions  were 
also  rude,  in  Greek  characters,  but  not  always  Greek  words  ;  the  name 
of  the  Synagoga  occurs. 

Philo  Judaeus  mentions  that  in  his  time  the  Jews  of  Rome  resided 
in  the  Trastevere v,  and  the  situation  of  this  catacomb  was  therefore 
convenient  for  them.  It  is  mentioned  in  the  Itinerary  of  Benjamin 
of  Tudela  w,  who  says  that  ten  martyrs  were  interred  in  it,  but  does 
not  mention  their  names,  or  whether  they  were  Jews  or  Christians, 
and  nothing  more  is  known  about  them. 

Holstein,  a  canon  of  the  Vatican,  who  was  one  of  the  most 
learned  men  of  his  day,  c.  a.d.  1650,  and  who  had  studied  the  sub¬ 
ject,  considered  that  they  were  Jews  put  to  death  under  Hadrian; 
but  no  persecution  in  his  time  is  recorded  by  Eusebius,  or  any  other 
Christian  historian,  as  far  as  has  been  observed.  Holstein,  however, 
said  that  he  found  them  mentioned,  with  their  names,  in  a  Jewish 
service-book  or  martyrology,  called  Manzor. 

In  1866,  another  catacomb  for  the  Jews  was  partially  excavated  in 
the  Vigna  Cimarra,  on  the  Via  Appia,  just  beyond  S.  Sebastiano.  The 


v  “  Magnam  partem  urbis  Romas 
trans  Tiberim,  non  ignoravit  teneri  et 
habitari  a  Judaeis,  quorum  plerique 
erant  libertini,”  &c.  (Philonis  Judcei, 
de  Virtutibus ,  Opera  ed.  Mangey,  vol. 
ii.  p.  568,  1.  27.  Fol.  Lond.  1742.) 

w  “  Est  etiam  crypta  altera  juxta 
Tiberis  fluvii  ripam,  in  qua  sepulti  sunt 
decern  justi  occisi  regni  (delendi  caussa).” 
(Benjamini  Tudelensis  Itinerarium  ex 
versione  Arise  Montani,  &c.  Lipsias, 
mdcclxiv.,  8vo.  p.  21.) 

We  quote  this  translation,  although 


we  are  aware  that  it  is  very  bad.  (See 
E.  Carmoly,  Notice  historique  sur  Ben¬ 
jamin  de  Tuditle,  &c.,  p.  18.  Bruxelles, 
1858,  8vo.  The  Peregrinations  of  Ben¬ 
jamin  the  Sonne  of  Jonas,  a  Jew,  written 
in  Hebrew,  translated  into  English  from 
the  Latin  version  of  Arias  Montanus, 
had  appeared  in  Harris’s  Collection  of 
Voyages  and  Travels,  vol.  i.  pp.  546 — 
555  (fob,  London,  1744-48);  they  were 
again  translated  into  English  and  edited 
by  A.  Asher  at  Berlin  in  1840,  2  vols. 
8vo. 


122 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


seven-branched  candlestick  and  other  emblems  and  inscriptions  found 
there  leave  no  room  for  doubt  that  it  was  for  Jews,  but  it  appears  to  have 
been  of  small  extent  and  extremely  poor.  The  soil  is  clay,  which  is  not 
well  suited  for  a  catacomb,  and  it  has  more  the  appearance  of  having 
been  the  burial-place  of  a  particular  family  than  a  general  one. 

The  glass  vases  represented  in  the  fifth  plate  of  the  work  of 
Father  Garrucci  are  evidently  taken  from  the  Jews’  catacomb1,  from 
the  subjects  represented  on  them.  They  all  have  the  candlestick 
of  seven  branches,  and  the  arch  or  tabernacle  guarded  by  two  lions,, 
with  wine-pots,  drinking-horns,  and  scrolls.  One  of  the  best  of  these 
is  now  preserved  in  the  Museum  of  Borgia,  at  the  Propaganda;  in 
this  the  lions  are  under  curtains,  in  festoons.  Under  the  upper 
picture  are  large  candelabra,  with  lamps  burning  at  the  top  of  each 
branch  ;  in  the  centre,  between  the  two  candelabra,  is  a  palm-branch. 
On  each  of  the  outer  sides  of  the  stem  of  the  candelabra  is  a  wine- 
pot,  and  between  them  a  drinking-horn  and  a  cedar-tree  (?).  This 
picture  is  enclosed  in  a  square  border  ornamented  with  a  series  of 
round  studs,  alternately  large,  coloured  red,  and  small,  coloured  blue. 
These  colours  are  repeated  on  the  candelabra ;  the  ground  of  the 
panel  is  light  red.  Over  the  picture  are  the  words  in  Roman 
capitals,  pie  .  zeses  .  elares,  that  is  to  say,  pie  zeses  hilaris ,  the 
aspirated  h  being  omitted,  and  the  i  being  changed  into  e,  according 
to  the  vulgar  pronunciation  in  Rome. 


X.  CATACOMBS  WITHIN  THE  WALLS  OF  ROME. 


In  addition  to  the  catacombs  or  subterranean  cemeteries  in  the 
environs  of  Rome,  mentioned  in  the  Pontifical  Registers,  several  of 
the  crypts  or  vaults  under  the  churches,  within  the  walls  of  Rome, 
are  also  called  Catacombs ;  but  these  were  only  the  places  to  which 
the  bones  and  relics  of  the  persons  interred  in  the  Catacombs,  pro¬ 
perly  so  called,  were  brought  for  safety,  at  the  time  of  the  invasion 
of  the  Lombards  in  the  eighth  century.  At  that  period,  the  Cata¬ 
combs  had  been  discontinued  as  places  of  interment ;  for  two  or  three 
centuries,  it  had  become  customary  to  bury  the  dead  in  and  under 
the  churches  within  the  walls,  at  least  persons  of  importance,  and  the 


x  Vetri  ornati  di  figure  in  oro  trovati 
nei  cimiteri  dei  Cristiani  primitivi  di 
Roma,  &c.  Fol.  Roma,  1858,  pp,  14 — 
19.  See  also  Buonarotti,  Osservazioni 


sopra  alcuni  frammenti  di  vasi  antichi 
di  vetro ,  &c.  Fol.  min.  Firenze,  1716, 
tav.  iii. ,  and  Ferret,  les  Catacombes  de 
Rome,  xxiv.  23. 


X.] 


Catacombs  within  the  Walls. 


123 


monks  in  their  own  cloisters.  The  great  burial-ground  of  S.  Lorenzo, 
called  the  Campo  Santo,  is  modern;  the  pits  are  of  the  years  1836 
and  1837,  but  they  are  no  longer  used.  At  one  period  it  was  usual 
to  consider  all  the  persons  buried  in  the  Catacombs  as  saints  or 
martyrs  ;  their  relics  were  eagerly  sought  for,  and  for  that  reason  per¬ 
haps  the  Lombards  rifled  and  destroyed  the  Catacombs  at  the  time 
of  their  siege  of  Rome.  Great  efforts  were  made  by  the  bishops  and 
clergy  to  preserve  what  were  left,  and  large  numbers  were  brought  to 
Rome  and  re-interred  in  vaults  or  crypts  built  for  the  purpose.  Altars 
and  chapels  were  made  at  the  entrances  of  those  crypts,  and  richly 
decorated.  It  was  expected  that  the  pilgrimages  would  have  been 
transferred  from  the  original  vaults  in  which  the  saints  had  been 
interred,  to  these  new  vaults  in  Rome  itself;  but  this  appears  to 
have  been  only  partially  the  case.  The  original  Catacombs  were  also 
restored  and  re-painted  for  the  benefit  of  the  pilgrims,  as  soon  as 
peace  was  restored,  and  these  are  for  the  most  part  the  paintings  in 
the  Catacombs  now  visible.  They  are  larger  and  finer  than  the 
original  frescoes  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  which  are  always 
small,  and  very  poor  as  works  of  art.  Those  of  the  eighth  and  ninth 
centuries  are  not  copies  of  the  old  ones,  but  are  in  the  style  of 
their  own  period,  corresponding  with  the  mosaic  pictures  in  the 
churches  in  Rome,  and  executed  by  the  same  persons. 

The  catacombs  in  Rome  had,  however,  a  certain  celebrity,  and 
were  objects  for  pilgrimages  at  a  time  when  the  original  Catacombs 
had  been  forgotten  and  were  no  longer  accessible.  One  of  the 
largest  of  these  so-called  Roman  catacombs  is  under  the  altar  and 
presbytery  of  the  church  of  S.  Praxedes,  now  called  S.  Prassede ; 
the  long  passage  which  formed  the  vestibule  of  this  great  crypt 
is  still  open,  and  has  an  altar  with  rich  decorations  renewed  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  as  shewn  by  the  ornamentations  in  Cosmati  mo¬ 
saic  work,  in  bands  round  the  altar  frontal,  and  on  the  edges  of  the 
sarcophagi  of  the  saints,  placed  on  either  side  of  this  passage.  The 
walls  and  flat  roof  of  the  passage  are  built  of  slabs  of  stone  and 
marble  brought  from  the  old  Catacombs,  some  with  the  inscrip¬ 
tions  visible,  others  with  the  inscriptions  turned  inwards,  and  there¬ 
fore  hidden.  These  slabs  have  been  used  merely  as  old  building 
materials,  and  were  covered  over  with  stucco  ornament,  some  of 
which  remains. 

The  monastery  and  church  of  S.  Prassede  were  entirely  built  or 
rebuilt  in  the  time  of  Paschal  I.,  probably,  among  other  objects,  in 
order  to  receive  these  relics.  It  was  an  offshoot  from,  and  closely 
connected  with,  the  monastery  and  church  of  S.  Pudentiana,  the 


124 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


sister  of  S.  Praxedes,  and  in  the  crypt  of  that  church  also  a  large 
number  of  relics  from  the  Catacombs  were  re-interred.  It  is  probable 
that  the  whole  of  those  which  then  remained  in  the  catacomb  of  S. 
Priscilla,  were  removed  for  safety  to  these  two  churches.  Inscriptions 
in  one  church  state  that  3,000  martyrs  are  interred  under  the  altar, 
and  2,300  in  the  other.  Bosio  and  Aringhiy  have  a  chapter  on  this 
subject,  and  give  the  inscriptions.  The  well  in  the  church  of  S. 
Pudentiana  probably  represents  the  original  well  in  the  catacomb,  as 
in  other  instances  the  Miracle  Play  repeated  every  year  gradually 
led  the  representation  to  be  mistaken  for  the  original,  without  any 
intention  to  deceive  in  the  first  instance ;  and  then,  after  ages  of 
ignorance,  it  is  difficult  to  make  people  see  the  real  meaning. 

Under  the  choir  and  presbytery  of  the  church  of  S.  Maria  in 
Cosmedin,  is  another  large  crypt  of  this  description,  with  a  series  of 
arched  recesses  or  niches  in  each  side,  and  shelves  for  the  caskets 
which  contained  the  relics.  These  were  afterwards  removed  to  some 
cupboards  in  the  wall  of  the  presbytery,  behind  the  altar,  in  the  upper 
church ;  but  once  a  year,  on  the  festival  day,  they  are  still  exhibited, 
and  the  crypt  is  lighted  up  for  the  occasion. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  mention  that  by  the  law  of  the  Twelve 
Tables  any  interment  within  the  city  of  Rome  was  strictly  prohibited, 
and  this  law  was  rigidly  enforced  until  after  the  time  of  Constantine  ; 
but  under  the  government  of  the  Church  this  was  relaxed,  and  some 
churches,  especially  that  of  Ara  Coeli,  became  fashionable  burying- 
places.  The  earliest  persons  permitted  to  be  buried  within  the  city, 
are  said  to  have  been  the  martyrs  John  and  Paul,  who  were  executed 
by  order  of  Julian  the  Apostate.  They  had  been  officers  of  the  Im¬ 
perial  household,  and  resided  in  a  part  of  the  Claudium.  Their 
bodies  were  allowed  to  be  buried  in  their  own  house,  and  a  church 
was  built  on  the  site  where  the  present  church  stands. 

It  appears  that  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  when  the  extra¬ 
mural  catacombs  were  going  out  of  use,  a  large  burial-ground  was 
formed  in  the  locality  where  the  church  of  S.  Bibiana  was  built,  and 
this  was  another  place  to  which  large  quantities  of  the  bones  from 
the  Catacombs  were  transferred.  It  is  mentioned  by  Camerarius 
and  Manlius,  and  is  thus  described :  “  Coemeterium  ad  Ursum 
Pileatum,  ad  Sanctam  Bibianam  The  bones  of  the  martyrs  in  the 
Julian  persecution,  Flavianus  and  Fabianus,  are  said  to  have  been 


7  Aringhi,  Roma  Subterranea,  lib. 
iii.  c.  38. 

1  This  must,  however,  have  been  a 
mistake,  as  the  “Ursum  Pileatum”  is 


known  to  have  been  on  the  Via  Portu- 
ensis,  at  the  entrance  to  the  catacomb 
of  Pontianus,  as  is  mentioned  in  Anas- 
tasius,  cvii.  601. 


X.] 


Catacombs  within  the  Walls. 


125 


interred  here;  this  is  mentioned  in  the  acts  of  the  martyrdom  of 
S.  Bibiana,  who  was  herself  buried  here,  with  her  mother,  Dafrosa, 
and  her  sister,  Demetria,  all  martyrs  in  the  same  persecution.  In¬ 
scriptions  in  the  church  record  that  their  bodies  were  found  here  in 
the  time  of  Simplicius,  and  re-interred  by  Honorius  III.  and  Urban 
VIII.  Their  relics  were  put  into  a  sarcophagus  under  the  high 
altar  in  1626,  and  statues  made  by  Bernini.  Another  inscription 
states  that  5,266  bodies  of  martyrs  were  interred  here,  exclusive  of 
women  and  children.  These  were  translated  from  the  catacomb  of 
SS.  Peter  and  Marcellinus.  It  is  stated  on  another  inscription  that 
the  holy  martyrs,  Simplicius,  Faustina,  and  Beatrix,  are  also  interred 
here,  with  4,257  bodies  of  saints,  besides  women  and  children. 

The  martyrs  Abdon  and  Sennen  are  said  to  have  been  buried  in 
a  leaden  coffin  by  Quirinus,  the  sub-deacon,  in  his  own  house,  near 
the  amphitheatre,  in  the  time  of  Claudius,  and  to  have  been  removed, 
in  that  of  Constantine,  to  the  catacomb  of  S.  Pontianus,  where  the 
paintings  of  them  now  remain ;  but  these  are  of  the  eighth  century. 
Other  instances  of  second  interments  of  martyrs  within  the  city  are 
mentioned3,  but  all  on  very  doubtful  authority,  as  to  the  identifica¬ 
tion  of  these  relics,  or  the  proofs  of  their  being  those  of  martyrs. 


XI.  CATACOMBS  OF  NAPLES. 

The  catacombs  of  Naples  help  to  throw  considerable  light  on  those 
of  Rome :  we  can  see  that  they  are  much  finer  than  those  at  Rome, 
although  only  a  comparatively  small  portion  of  them  is  visible. 
They  are  made  in  a  harder  kind  of  tufa :  consequently  the  corri¬ 
dors  are  wider  and  higher,  the  chapels  larger,  and  they  are  not  so 
dirty  as  most  of  those  at  Rome.  There  is  no  appearance  of  any 
concealment  in  the  matter,  each  being  a  hall  of  considerable  size 
supported  on  columns  cut  in  the  tufa. 

The  original  entrance  was  through  the  church  of  S.  Gennaro b ; 
but  the  connection  has  long  been  cut  off,  and  at  present  it  is 
through  the  broken  cliff  of  the  ancient  stone-quarry,  and  has  a 
rather  rough  appearance ;  it  is  seen  at  once  that  the  corridors 

“  Aringhi,  Roma  Subterranea  novis-  double  cloister,  one  over  the  other,  and 
sima,  lib.  iii.  c.  37.  the  plan  is  long  and  narrow,  not  square 

b  This  is  now  called  S.  Gennaro  de’  as  was  usual ;  it  is  a  very  picturesque 
Poveri,  the  monastery  adjoining  having  building.  These  catacombs  were  also 
long  been  converted  into  a  poorhouse.  called  extra  mania,  because  they  were 
The  building  is  late  medieval  with  a  outside  the  walls  of  the  town. 


126 


Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


are  far  more  lofty  and  spacious  than  those  of  Rome,  though  the 
arco-solia  and  the  paintings  are  of  much  the  same  character.  There 
are  remains  of  paintings  on  what  is  now  the  external  wall,  which 
has  originally  been  covered  over ;  the  general  effect  of  the  present 
entrance  is  striking,  and  immediately  attracts  interest,  and  a  desire 
to  explore  further0. 

The  present  vestibule  is  also  of  a  good  size,  and  has  a  vault 
painted  in  the  style  of  Pompeii,  evidently  of  the  same  period,  the 
first  half-century  of  the  Christian  era,  some  of  the  paintings  being 
distinctly  Pagan.  This  has  been  plastered  over,  and  a  second  set 
of  the  eighth  century  painted  over  it ;  but  this  second  coat  of  plaster 
has  not  adhered  well,  and  has  fallen  off  over  nearly  the  whole  ex¬ 
tent,  leaving  the  original  painting  fresh  and  nearly  perfect.  The 
corridors  themselves  are  not  painted,  but  a  few  tombs  in  them  are 
so,  as  well  as  many  family  chapels.  These  also  have  columns  at 
the  entrance,  on  each  side  of  the  door,  better  worked  and  more 
distinct  than  those  in  Rome,  arising  probably  from  the  material 
being  better.  One  corridor  is  called  the  Tombs  of  the  Nobles, 
and  the  loculi  are  finer  and  better  worked  than  the  rest.  Amongst 
these  is  a  painted  tomb  of  the  time  of  Constantine,  with  pictures 
of  that  prince  and  his  mother,  S.  Helena,  which  appear  contem¬ 
poraneous,  with  his  badge,  the  labarum ,  and  an  inscription,  italia 
in  pace.  In  the  next  corridor  is  the  chapel  of  S.  Gennaro,  or 
Januarius,  who  was  martyred  under  Diocletian  in  the  tenth  per¬ 
secution  at  the  end  of  the  third  century,  and  was  interred  with 
pomp  under  Constantine ;  the  paintings  in  the  chapel  of  this  cor¬ 
ridor  are  possibly  soon  after  his  time,  and  this  was  probably  his 
burying-place.  A  church  was  afterwards  erected  in  his  honour  at  the 
entrance  of  the  catacomb.  Other  chapels  in  another  corridor  have 
paintings  of  the  eighth  century,  among  which  is  a  Holy  Family  and 
SS.  Peter  and  Paul ;  another  has  figures  of  saints,  with  the  names 
of  Desiderius  and  Agatius.  There  is  also  a  good  painting  of  a  pea¬ 
cock,  with  vases  and  flowers,  of  earlier  character. 

In  the  upper  chapel,  near  the  entrance,  is  a  seat  cut  out  of  the 
tufa  rock,  like  what  is  called  the  bishops’  seat  in  one  of  the  cata¬ 
combs  at  Rome  ;  this  is  called  the  chair  of  S.  Severus. 

These  catacombs  at  Naples d  are  said  by  tradition  to  be  the  work 


c  Signor  de  Gennaro  Galante,  of 
Naples,  has  long  had  a  work  in  hand 
on  the  Christian  antiquities  of  that  city. 
It  is  expected  to  throw  new  light  on  the 
subject,  which  has  hitherto  been  much 
neglected. 


d  A  description  of  these  Catacombs, 
and  a  dissertation  upon  them  in  Ger¬ 
man,  was  published  in  1839,  by  Ch.  Fr. 
Bellermann,  with  this  title:  “Ueber 
die  altesten  christlichen  Begrabnissstiit- 
ten  und  besonders  die  Katakomben  zu 


XL] 


Catacombs  of  Naples. 


12  7 


of  Greek  settlers.  This  kind  of  burial  is  an  Oriental  custom  brought 
to  Europe  by  the  Jews  and  the  Byzantine  Greeks. 

There  is  a  series  of  family  burying-places  or  cubicula  or  ccemeteria , 
down  each  side  of  the  corridors,  always  said  to  be  burying-places 
of  families,  and  in  several  instances  the  names  of  the  families  are 
mentioned  by  the  guide,  on  pure  tradition.  The  paintings  of  these 
shew  that  they  belong  to  several  distinct  periods,  from  the  first 
century  down  to  the  ninth.  Several  are  of  the  eighth  and  ninth, 
and  original,  that  is,  not  painted  over  others,  but  on  the  original 
and  only  coat  of  plaster.  One  of  the  arco-solia ,  near  the  entrance,  is 
inscribed  ossvario,  and  has  the  arch  enriched  with  mosaics  in  pat¬ 
terns  only,  a  star  within  a  circle,  just  like  one  at  Pompeii.  This 


Neapel,”  &c.  Hamburg,  1839,  4to., 
with  12  coloured  plates  and  two  plans. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  plates, 
which  are  important,  because  the  greater 
part  of  the  paintings  there  given  are  no 
longer  visible  : — 

1.  View  of  the  entrance  hall  or 
chapel  (?),  called  the  vestibule. 

2.  A  partition- wall  in  the  lower  story 
with  loculi ,  and  an  arco-solium  with  a 
painting  of  the  peacock. 

3.  Vault  of  the  vestibule  of  the  lower 
story,  with  an  early  pattern  upon  it  of 
circles,  &c.,  and  with  birds  and  animals 
on  the  side  walls. 

4.  Drawings  of  birds,  vases,  and  ani¬ 
mals  (lions,  stags,  panthers,  &c. ),  on 
a  partition-wall  of  the  upper  story. 

5.  i.  Adam  and  Eve.  ii.  An  un¬ 
finished  tower  of  medieval  character, 
with  battlements,  and  with  three  female 
figures  in  the  act  of  building  it,  possibly 
alluding  to  the  third  vision  in  the  Pastor 
of  Hermas.  See  Galland,  Biblioth.  Vet. 
Patr.,  t.  i.  p.  63,  seq. 

6.  A  cubiculum  in  the  upper  story, 
painted  with  an  anchor,  a  dove,  two 
dolphins,  and  a  goat,  with  a  shepherd’s 
staff  and  a  drinking-mug  hanging  to  it. 

7.  Figures  of  S.  Paul  with  a  scroll, 
and  S.  Laurence  with  his  crown  of  mar¬ 
tyrdom  in  his  hand.  These  figures  have 
not  the  nimbus,  and  the  inscriptions  are 
of  an  early  character.  This  painting  is 
probably  of  the  fifth  century. 

8.  An  arco-solium ,  with  figures  of 
three  persons  buried  in  it ;  a  man,  and 
two  children,  one  aged  fourteen,  the 
other  two. 

i.  ILARIVS.  VIX.  AN.  XIV.  .  .  . 

ii.  ELINVS.  MARCELLINVS  (?)  VIX.  .  .  . 

iii.  NONNOSA.  vix(it)  AN(nos)  II. 

M(enses)  x. 


9.  Figures  in  two  pictures. 

1.  HIC  REQVIESC.  PROCVLVS.  The 
head,  with  hands  uplifted,  stand¬ 
ing  between  two  candlesticks. 

2.  A  group  of  three  figures.  In  the 
centre  a  tall  figure  with  the  in¬ 
scription, — 

SANCTO  MARTYRI  IANVARIO. 

10.  A  painting  in  the  chapel  of  the 
martyrs  :  three  figures  much  mutilated. 
In  the  centre  a  bishop  with  his  pall ; 
he  has  the  nimbus,  and  was  probably 
a  martyr.  On  either  side  is  a  female 
figure  addressing  him. 

11.  Two  figures,  i.  A  bishop  with 
his  pall.  ii.  A  deacon. 

The  costumes  of  these  figures  in  10, 
11,  and  12,  belong  rather  to  the  Greek 
than  the  Roman  Church.  The  paint¬ 
ings  are  probably  of  the  eighth  century. 

12.  A  head  of  Christ  in  the  attitude 
of  benediction,  and  two  lamps  of  the 
fourth  century,  such  as  are  common  in 
all  the  catacombs.  Lights  to  be  burnt 
before  the  dead,  were  forbidden  by  the 
Council  of  Illiberis  in  a.d.  305,  but 
recommended  by  Athanasius  in  A.D. 
373- 

There  is  also  a  good  description  of 
the  Catacombs  of  Naples  in  Keyss- 
ler’s  Travels  ( Reisebesch reibu ngen ,  th.  ii. 
p.  796,  ff. ),  translated  from  the  second 
edition  of  the  German,  and  published 
in  London  in  four  quarto  volumes  in 
1756. 

See  also  Notizie  sulle  cripte  mor- 
tuarie  dell  Catacombe  di  S.  Gennaro 
de’  Poveri,  del  Can.  Andrea  di  Jorio, 
in  a  periodical,  Progresso  delle  scienze, 
lettere  ed  arti,  1833,  fasc.  7,  and  pub¬ 
lished  separately. 


128 


Catacombs. 


[SECT.  XI. 


is  in  the  earlier  part,  near  the  entrance,  and  in  that  part  some  of 
the  family  tombs  are  distinctly  Pagan.  Others  are  as  evidently 
Christian,  of  various  periods  down  to  the  ninth  century. 

In  1866,  a  cubiciiliim  was  found  dug  out  of  the  chalk-rock  in 
a  sort  of  side  chapel  of  the  church  of  S.  Severus,  which  is  supposed 
to  have  had  a  communication  with  the  great  catacomb  of  S.  Gen- 
naro.  It  was  painted  with  figures  of  saints  of  the  usual  style  of  the 
Catacombs,  with  the  names  inscribed  of  sanctvs  Evxyc(hes)  and 
sanctvs  protasivs.  An  account  of  this  discovery  was  given  in 
the  Bullettino  e  of  De  Rossi  for  1867.  The  paintings  are  attributed 
to  the  fourth  century,  but  appear  far  more  like  the  restoration  of 
the  time  of  Pope  Hadrian  in  the  eighth. 

The  Commendatore  de  Rossi,  who  has  been  well  acquainted  with 
the  Catacombs  of  Rome  from  his  boyhood,  and  has  now  for  several 
years  had  charge  of  them  for  the  Pontifical  Government,  also  takes 
a  natural  interest  in  those  of  other  countries,  and  his  Bullettino  is 
full  of  information  on  the  subject.  When  anything  fresh  is  ob¬ 
served,  it  is  sure  to  be  found  there;  but  the  subject  is  obviously  too 
wide  to  be  entered  upon  here.  In  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome,  he 
has  accounts  of  them  at  Ostia  and  at  Porto,  in  his  fourth  volume, 
and  at  Albano,  Aricia,  and  Bovilla,  in  his  seventh.  He  has  also 
notice  of  others  in  Egypt,  at  Catana,  Cesarea  in  Mauritania,  Chiusi 
in  Etruria,  Cumena  in  Phrygia,  and  Milan,  besides  these  in  Naples, 
which  are  only  equalled  by  those  in  the  ancient  latomice  of  Syracusa, 
hewn  out  in  hard  and  compact  calcareous  stone,  which  had  supplied 
materials  for  so  many  fine  edifices. 

e  Bullettino  di  Archeologia  Cristiana,  1867,  pp.  73,  74. 


XII.  CHURCHES  OUTSIDE  THE  WALLS  CONNECTED 

WITH  THE  CATACOMBS. 

* 

Via  Ostiensis.  Church  of  S.  Paul  outside  the  Walls. 

This  celebrated  church  is  one  of  the  great  Patriarchal  Basilicas 
of  Rome,  or  what  we  should  call  Metropolitical  Cathedrals,  which 
were  so  largely  endowed  by  Constantine  out  of  the  imperial  estates 
in  the  Campagna  and  elsewhere.  It  is  also  a  parochial  church, 
and  has  a  monastery  of  Benedictines  attached  to  it,  governed  by 
an  abbot,  and  therefore  called  an  abbey.  The  church  is  said  in 
the  Martyrologies  to  have  been  originally  founded  in  a.d.  254,  under 
Pope  Cornelius,  on  the  occasion  of  the  finding  of  the  bodies  of  SS. 
Peter  and  Paul  by  the  Roman  lady,  Lucina,  on  her  farm,  or  in 
her  family  catacomb  near  this  spot.  Independent  writers  consider  all 
this  story  as  a  fable,  a  pious  fraud  invented  by  the  priests,  asserting 
that  this  and  some  other  passages  were  inserted  in  the  Pontifical 
Records  by  Anastasius,  who  was  the  most  skilful  forger  of  manu¬ 
scripts  of  his  day.  Another  of  these  passages  of  apocryphal  character 
is  that  relating  to  Pope  Silvester  and  the  Emperor  Constantine, 
a.d.  314.  In  this  it  is  stated  that  S.  Paul’s  was  one  of  the  eight 
churches  which  Constantine  made  in  Rome f. 

At  the  same  time  he  is  said  to  have  made  churches  at  Ostia,  Albano, 
Capua,  and  Naples.  It  has  been  usually  supposed  that  this  expression, 
fecit  basilicas  istas,  means  that  he  built  churches  at  all  those  places;  but 
as  no  work  of  his  time  has  been  observed  in  any  of  them  (excepting 
at  S.  Croce  in  the  Sessorium,  where  his  mother  resided),  it  seems  more 
probable  that  he  only  endowed  them  by  attaching  a  grand  cathedral 
establishment  to  each,  leaving  the  canons  to  build  the  churches  and 
houses  for  themselves  out  of  the  handsome  income  with  which  he 
had  endowed  them.  As  he  gave  to  each  some  square  miles  of  the 
then  rich  and  fertile  land  of  the  Campagna,  they  had  ample  funds 
to  build  all  that  they  required  for  many  years  after  his  death.  He 
could  not  anticipate  that  in  time  all  those  fertile  lands  would  be 

f  Constantine  is  also  said  to  have  basilicam  beato  Paulo  apostolo  ejc  sug- 
enclosed  the  relics  of  the  Apostle  in  gestione  Silvestri  episcopi.  Cujus  corpus 
a  bronze  sarcophagus,  three  hundred  sanctum  ita  recondidit  in  sere  et  con- 
years  after  his  martyrdom:  “  Eodem  clusit,  sicut  et  B.  Petri,”  &c.  (Anas- 
tempore  fecit  Augustus  Constantinus  tasius,  xxxiv.  40.) 


K 


130 


Churches  connected  with  the  Catacombs.  [SECT. 


converted  into  a  desert,  or  at  best  pasture-land  for  sheep  and  cattle 
during  part  of  the  year  only.  By  neglecting  to  repair  the  aqueducts 
and  the  drains,  the  whole  of  the  admirable  system  of  irrigation  and 
drainage  established  under  the  Empire  has  been  destroyed,  and  by 
the  malaria ,  or  poisonous  smells  of  decaying  vegetable  and  putrifying 
matter,  this  splendid  establishment  has  been  rendered  uninhabitable 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  year s.  The  great  cathedral  is  only 
used  publicly  three  times  in  each  winter  season;  the  Benedictine 
monks  use  one  of  the  small  chapels  for  their  daily  services. 

The  bodies  of  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul  are  said  to  have  been  interred 
under  the  high  altar  of  this  church ;  and  their  heads  were  translated, 
the  one  to  S.  Peter’s  Church,  and  the  other  to  the  Lateran.  An  in¬ 
scription  records  that  the  bodies  were  re-interred  there  by  Silvester 
when  the  church  was  built  or  rebuilt,  that  is,  made  into  a  church 
from  a  mere  burial  chapel. 

The  bones  of  several  martyrs  are  also  said  to  lie  in  this  church, 
and  their  memory  is  recorded  on  inscriptions  : — SS.  Bridgetta,  Tirno- 
theus,  Julianus,  Basilissa,  Celsus,  and  Martianilla,  under  one  altar; 
■the  date  of  their  martyrdom  does  not  appear.  Others  have  the  names 
of  the  consuls,  which  thus  are  dated,  Mandrosa,  Anicius  Faustus, 
cons.  a.d.  298.  There  are  several  inscriptions  on  tombs,  with  the 
names  of  consuls  of  the  fifth  century;  but  these  are  after  the  time  of 
the  persecutions.  Two  fine  sarcophagi  of  the  fourth  century  found 
here,  were  engraved  by  Bosio  and  Aringhi.  One,  with  the  sculptured 
heads  of  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul,  was  formerly  under  the  high  altar 
here,  but  was  translated  by  Sixtus  V.,  in  1586,  to  the  church  of 
S.  Maria  Maggiore ;  the  other,  with  rich  sculptures  of  Christ  and 
some  of  His  principal  miracles,  was  carried  to  the  church  of  S.  Mary 
on  the  Aventine. 

Among  the  celebrated  persons  interred  in  this  church  is  Paul  I., 
who  retired  from  his  bishopric  to  this  monastery,  and  wtis  buried 
here  a.d.  767  ;  but  his  remains  were  translated  to  S.  Peter’s. 

John  XIII,  was  buried  by  his  own  directions  in  the  middle  of  the 
nave  of  this  church,  a.d.  972,  and  Petrus  Leo,  better  known  by  his 


8  The  blocking-up  of  the  port  of 
Ostia,  by  order  of  the  Pontifical  go¬ 
vernors  of  the  period,  in  order  to  keep 
out  the  Saracens  and  the  Normans,  has 
caused  a  large  district  to  become  only  an 
unhealthy  swamp.  The  cutting  down  of 
the  forests,  also  by  order  of  the  Ponti¬ 
fical  Government,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
pockets  of  the  priests  for  the  time, 
has  greatly  increased  the  malaria  which 
is  now  the  curse  of  Rome.  It  is  well 


known  that  the  leaves  of  trees  and  of 
other  plants  help  very  much  to  purify 
the  air,  as  all  plants  live  on  nitrogen, 
which  they  absorb  largely,  and  give  out 
oxygen  in  exchange ;  and  as  oxygen  is 
essential  to  human  life,  and  nitrogen 
fatal  to  it,  cutting  down  miles  of  forest 
in  a  hot  climate,  previously  to  some 
extent  affected  with  malaria,  was  a 
great  mistake. 


XII.]  Via  Ostiensis. — .S'.  Paul  fuori  delle  Mura.  13 1 

Italian  name  Pier  Leone,  Count  of  the  Aventine,  a  celebrated 
Roman  noble  and  warrior,  a.d.  1144.  The  splendid  sarcophagus 
made  use  of  for  the  burial  of  his  remains  in  the  twelfth  century11 
is  still  to  be  seen  under  the  portico  of  the  church,  and  represents 
the  fable  of  Marsyas.  There  is  a  long  inscription  to  his  honour, 
recording,  among  other  things,  the  building  of  his  castle  in  the 
Trastevere. 

Such  is  the  account  given  by  Bosio  and  Aringhi ;  others  of 
doubtful  authority,  say  that  the  catacomb  of  S.  Paul  was  made 
about  a.d.  70,  in  her  meadow,  by  the  lady  Ciriaca,  or  Domnica, 
niece  of  the  Emperor  Vitellius,  who  also  allowed  the  Christians  to 
assemble  in  her  house  on  the  Coelian  for  worship,  and  thus  origi¬ 
nated  the  church  of  S.  Maria  in  Domnica,  which  was  the  basilica 
or  hall  of  her  house. 

There  is  no  building  of  the  time  of  Constantine  remaining  at 
S.  Paul’s.  The  only  vestige  of  that  period  which  has  been  observed 
is  an  inscription  in  the  confessio,  pavlo  apostolo  ma  [rtyri],  which 
seems  to  shew  that  the  relics  were  deposited  there  at  that  period. 
On  the  arch  across  the  transept  is  the  inscription : — 

THEODOSIVS  CCEPIT,  PERFECIT  HONORIVS  AVLAM  DOCTORIS  MVNDI 
SACRATAM  CORPORE  PAVLI l, 

thus  recording  that  it  was  built  in  the  last  twenty  years  of  the 
fourth  century,  between  380  and  400. 

The  next  notice  of  this  church  is  that  it  was  repaired  or  restored 
by  Pope  Leo,  a.d.  440 j,  under  Galla  Placidia,  according  to  the  in¬ 
scription  on  the  arch  of  the  transept : — 

PLACIDIA  PIA  MEMO  OPERIS  DECVS  OMNE  PATERNI 
GAVDET  PONTIFICIS  STVDIO  SPLENDERE  LEONIS. 

The  mosaic  picture  on  this  arch  with  the  fine  head  of  Christ 
was  probably  of  the  same  period. 

In  the  time  of  King  Theodoric  and  Pope  Symmachus,  a.d.  498 — 
514*,  a  considerable  amount  of  building  was  done  here:  the  apse 
was  rebuilt,  the  confessio  adorned  with  pictures,  a  chamber  appro¬ 
priated  for  the  canons,  and  another  for  the  matrons  (malronium); 
and  steps  were  made  before  the  doors  of  the  church  in  the  court,  or 
quadri-porticus.  A  sacristy  was  also  erected  behind  the  apse,  and 

h  It  was  engraved  in  the  work  en-  pp.  273 — 286. 
titled  Della  Basilica  di  S.  Paolo,  opera  ’  This  was  restored  by  Hadrian  I., 
di  Nicola  Maria  Nicolai,  &c.,  con  ( 1 8)  A.D.  772. 
piante,  e  disegni  incisi.  Folio  maj.  J  Anastasius,  xlvii.  67. 

Roma,  1815,  tav.  x.,  and  described  k  Ibid.,  liii.  79. 

K  2 


i32 


Churches  connected  zvith  the  Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


water  brought  in  by  an  aqueduct.  In  701,  there  were  repairs 
under  Sergius  I. ;  in  714,  the  roof  was  restored  under  Gregory  II.  \ 
and  a  new  altar  made,  with  a  silver  ciborium  or  canopy  over  it. 
The  church  was  damaged  by  the  Lombards,  under  Liutprand,  in 
730,  and  repaired  by  Gregory  III.  in  732;  it  was  again  damaged 
forty  years  afterwards  under  Desiderius.  Hadrian  I.  gave  hand¬ 
some  donations,  and  Charles  the  Great,  about  a.d.  800,  presented 
a  silver  altar  and  vases  to  it.  The  same  Pope  inclosed  the  body 
of  S.  Paul  in  plates  of  the  same  metal ;  and  one  of  his  successors, 
Leo  III.,  gave  to  this  basilica  a  gold  figure  of  Christ  and  the  twelve 
Apostles,  weighing  seventy-five  pounds,  probably  the  frontal  of  an 
altar.  All  these  treasures  were  carried  off  by  the  Saracens  in  846. 
In  946,  Leo  IV.  restored  the  church  after  it  had  been  damaged  by 
them.  Benedict  IV.  gave  a  gold  corona  of  two  pounds  weight,  and 
seven  silver  crosses  of  fifty  pounds. 

The  fine  mosaic  picture  on  the  apse  or  tribune,  as  it  is  called, 
was  erected  under  Innocent  IV.  (a.d.  1243 — 1250),  when  Gaetano 
Orsini  was  abbot,  the  same  who  became  pope  by  the  name  of 
Nicholas  III.,  in  1277.  This  picture  was  damaged  by  the  great  fire, 
but  has  been  restored. 

In  1285,  the  handsome  ciborium ,  or  canopy,  was  made  under 
Abbot  Bartolomeo.  In  1338,  the  church  was  much  damaged  by 
a  violent  storm  and  an  earthquake;  it  was  restored  in  1350,  and 
a  gothic  campanile  was  added.  This  is  shewn  in  Nicolai’s  view, 
and  was  only  replaced  by  the  hideous  modern  structure  after  the 
fire  in  1823. 

Sixtus  V.  made  various  repairs  and  changes  in  the  church,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  ideas  of  his  time,  of  which  an  exact  account  is  given 
by  Ugonius. 

The  ancient  quadri-porticus  was  destroyed  in  1725  by  Bene¬ 
dict  XIV.,  to  make  way  for  a  new  portico.  The  mosaic  pictures 
of  Honorius  III.  were  restored  at  the  same  time.  The  three  bronze 
doors  were  made  in  Constantinople  in  the  eleventh  century,  at  the 
expense  of  Pantaleon  the  Consul,  and  presented  to  the  church  in 
1070,  under  Alexander  II.  The  subjects  engraved  on  the  brass  or 
bronze  plates  were  a  series  of  prophets  and  apostles  ascribed  to 
Pantaleon  himself,  and  drawn  according  to  the  fashion  of  his  day, 
in  very  rude  outlines.  They  were  enamelled,  and  the  enamel 
varnish  was  melted  in  the  great  fire  in  1823,  in  which  the  wood¬ 
work  also  was  destroyed ;  but  the  bronze  plates  are  preserved01. 

1  Anastasius,  xci.  178. 

01  They  were  engraved  in  Della  Basilica  di  S.  Paolo ,  &c.,  tav.  xi. — xvi. 


XII.]  Via  Ostiensis. — .S'.  Paul fuori  delle  Mura. 


133 


The  plan  of  the  church  is  a  Latin  cross,  354  ft.  long  by  202  wide, 
with  double  aisles.  There  are  forty  columns  in  the  nave,  and  forty 
more  in  the  aisles.  The  whole  style  and  character  of  the  work  as 
rebuilt  is  that  of  a  grand  Pagan  temple,  very  handsome,  but  very  cold 
looking,  and  not  conveying  to  the  mind  the  idea  of  a  Christian 
church.  Signor  Poletti,  the  architect  of  this  new  building,  prided 
himself  on  having  strictly  followed  the  rules  of  Vitruvius  in  every¬ 
thing,  and  on  the  consequently  substantial  character  of  the  fabric. 
The  old  church  was  almost  entirely  destroyed  in  the  great  confla¬ 
gration  in  1823,  the  apse  excepted.  The  mosaic  picture  in  the  vault 
was  much  damaged,  although  not  destroyed,  and  it  has  since  been 
restored  ;  but  a  large  series  of  tombs  and  figures  in  marble  and 
bronze  were  entirely  lost.  This  fire  made  a  great  sensation  all  over 
Europe,  and  a  large  fund  was  raised  by  public  subscription  to  re¬ 
build  the  church ;  all  the  Catholic  bishops  were  called  upon  to 
appeal  to  their  flocks,  and  did  so  with  great  success,  many  contribu¬ 
tions  in  kind  being  sent  as  well  as  money.  The  Emperor  of  Russia 
gave  malachite  and  even  the  Pasha  of  Egypt  granite  columns,  which 
are  used  in  the  church  with  Corinthian  capitals  of  Carrara  marble. 

The  old  altar  was  preserved  with  its  very  beautiful  canopy  or 
ciborium  of  the  fourteenth  century,  a  remarkably  elegant  piece  of 
work,  with  trefoil  arches  and  most  elaborate  details,  of  which  an  ex¬ 
cellent  series  of  engravings  have  been  published n ;  but  this  elegant 
Gothic  structure  did  not  harmonize  with  the  Grecian  temple  in  which 
it  now  stands :  it  is  therefore  covered  over  by  a  small  circular 
Grecian  temple  to  hide  it.  The  monastery,  although  damaged  by  the 
fire,  was  not  destroyed  ;  a  great  part  of  the  walls  of  the  thirteenth 
century  remain,  and  the  very  beautiful  cloisters  are  of  that  period. 
These  are  almost  identical  with  those  of  S.  John  Lateran,  and  both 
are  richly  ornamented  ;  being  one  of  the  best  examples  of  the 
beautiful  ribbon  mosaic,  the  work  of  the  celebrated  family  of  the 
Cosmati. 

This  Benedictine  monastery  was  connected  with  that  on  Monte 
Casino  in  1421,  and  the  connection  is  still  continued. 


See  Della  Basilica  di  S.  Paolo ,  &c.,  tav.  iii. — ix. 


134 


Churches  connected  with  the  Catacombs.  [SECT. 


TRE  FONTANE. 

SS.  VlNCENTIUS  AND  ANASTASIUS. 

This  establishment  is  situated  about  three  miles  from  Rome,  on 
the  road  to  Ostia,  and  beyond  the  church  of  S.  Paul  fuori  delle  Mura. 

The  church  and  monastery  are  said  to  have  been  built  by  Hono- 
rius  I.  in  626,  enlarged  and  repaired  by  Leo  III.  in  796,  with  the 
help  of  Charlemagne,  who  endowed  it  with  lands  at  Siena ;  but  it  " 
was  almost  entirely  rebuilt,  as  we  now  see  it,  in  the  twelfth  century. 
The  rebuilding  was  begun  by  Innocent  II.  in  1128,  and  given  to 
S.  Bernard  and  his  Cistercian  monks  of  Clervaux ;  the  Pontiff  sent  for 
the  first  abbot  Pietro  Bernardo  of  Pisa,  who  became  Pope  under  the 
name  of  Eugenius  III.  in  1145,  and  completed  this,  the  first  Cister¬ 
cian  monastery  in  Italy  °.  The  church  is  distinguished  by  its  remark¬ 
able  simplicity  and  plain  massive  character,  the  arches  being  carried 
on  solid  brick  piers,  over  which  is  the  clerestory,  with  the  original 
windows  of  thin  slabs  of  marble,  pierced  with  small  round  holes  for 
the  glass,  the  original  plate-tracery  of  which  remains  unaltered.  The 
church  must  have  been  built  expressly  for  S.  Bernard  after  his  own 
heart,  as  bare  and  as  plain  as  it  was  possible  to  make  it,  without  the 
slightest  attempt  at  ornament  of  any  kind,  and  with  the  plain  open 
timber  roof.  He  had  preached  vehemently  against  the  rich  orna¬ 
mentation  of  churches,  and  this  church  should  be  compared  with  that 
of  S.  Maria  in  Cosmedin,  which  had  been  built  about  twenty  years 
before ;  it  was  named  from  its  extreme  richness,  and  therefore  was 
probably  one  of  those  which  excited  the  especial  ire  of  S.  Bernard. 
One  was  as  rich  as  possible,  the  other  as  plain  as  could  be. 

The  outer  walls  of  the  aisles,  and  part  of  those  of  the  transepts, 
belong  to  the  earlier  church  of  the  eighth  century,  as  do  part  of  the 
walls  of  the  monastery  on  the  north  side  of  it,  which  has  a  cloister 
of  the  twelfth  century  inserted  in  the  earlier  walls.  The  gatehouse 
is  chiefly  of  the  twelfth  century,  and  the  vault  entirely  so ;  but  part 
of  the  side  walls  are  of  the  older  work. 

The  church  has  a  square  east  end.  In  the  sixteenth  century,  figures 
of  the  Apostles  were  painted  on  the  square  piers  by  the  pupils  of 
Raphael,  and  from  his  designs;  these  have  been  re-painted  under 

0  The  donation  is  recorded  on  this  s.  bernardi  opera  svblato  ana- 
inscription  over  the  porch  : —  cleti  schismate,  eidem  ac  SVIS  cis- 

INNOCENTIVS  II.  PONT.  MAX.  EX  TERCIENSIBVS 
FAMIEIA  ANICIA,  PAPIA  ET  PAPARESCA,  HOC  A  SE  RESTAVRATVM  MONASTE- 
NVNC  MATHAEIA.  RIVM  DONO  DEDIT  ANNO  DOM.  M.C.XL. 


XII.]  Tre  Fontane. — AA.  Vincentius  and  Anastasius. 


135 


Pio  IX.,  at  the  expense  of  the  Pontifical  government,  by  one  of  the 
worst  painters  of  modern  Rome.  The  exterior  has  the  usual  cornice 
of  the  twelfth  century,  flat  buttresses,  and  marble  gurgoyles.  The 
chapter-house,  of  the  time  of  S.  Bernard,  remains  among  the  buildings 
of  the  monastery  on  the  north  side. 

The  church  was  dedicated  to  SS.  Vincentius  and  Anastasius  by 
Pope  Clement  III.,  1187— 1191,  when  the  works  were  completed. 
It  was  called  in  1145,  “  S.  Anastasius  ad  Aquas  Salvias.”  An  altar 
was  dedicated  in  1221,  but  that  can  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
date  of  the  building. 

The  vault  of  the  gatehouse  has  paintings  of  the  twelfth  or  thir¬ 
teenth  century ;  in  the  centre,  the  figure  of  Christ  surrounded  by  the 
four  emblems  of  the  Evangelists,  and  angels,  on  a  white  ground, 
ornamented  with  griffins,  parrots,  dragons,  lions,  &c.  On  the  walls 
are  paintings  representing  the  donations  made  to  the  monks,  with 
perspective  views  of  the  farms  given  to  them  at  the  close  of  the 
twelfth  century,  and  amongst  them  is  the  figure  of  Honorius  III., 
A.D.  I2l6 - 1227. 


S.  Paolo  alle  Tre  Fontane. 

Within  the  walls  of  the  monastery  of  S.  Vincentius  and  Anastasius, 
two  other  small  churches  have  also  been  built.  One  is  called 
“  S.  Paolo  alle  Tre  Fontane,”  supposed  to  be  on  the  site  of  a  very 
early  chapel,  built  over  the  spot  on  which  S.  Paul  was  beheaded, 
where  after  his  head  was  cut  off  it  rebounded  three  times,  and 
at  each  place  as  it  touched  the  ground  a  fountain  sprang  up.  The 
whole  history  of  the  martyrdom  of  S.  Paul  is,  however,  an  apo¬ 
cryphal  legend  ;  and  all  that  we  really  know  about  this  church  is 
that  the  present  building  was  erected  from  the  ground  by  Cardinal 
Aldobrandini,  a.d.  1599,  in  the  usual  bad  taste  of  that  age,  by 
Giacomo  della  Porta p. 

The  altars  are  ornamented  with  columns  of  green  porphyry  and 
paintings  of  the  crucifixions  of  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul ;  that  of  S.  Peter 
being  a  copy  from  Guido,  that  of  S.  Paul  an  original  by  Bernardino 
Passerolo,  a  Bolognese  artist.  This  church  contains  also  three 
statues  by  Niccolo  Cordieri,  and,  enclosed  in  an  iron  grating,  the 
short  marble  pillar  on  which  the  Apostle  is  said  to  have  been  be¬ 
headed,  a  singularly  ill-suited  block  for  the  purpose. 

p  The  following  inscription  records  saltv  emanarant,  miracvi.o  in- 
the  history  of  the  church  : —  signem,  vetvstate  deformatvm, 

PETRVS,  DIACONVS  CARD.  ALDOBRAN-  AEDE  EXSTRVCTA  MAGNIFICENTIVS 
DINVS,  S.  R.  E.  CAMERARIVS,  LOCVM  S.  RESTITVIT  ET  ORNAVIT,  AN.  M  DIC. 
PAVLI  APOSTOLI  MARTYRIO,  ET  TRIVM  CI.EMENTIS  PAPAE  VIII.,  PATRVI  SVI, 
FONTIVM,  QVI  EX  TVNC  RECISI  CAPITIS  AN.  VIII. 


136 


Churches  connected  ivit/i  the  Catacombs . 


[SECT. 


S.  Maria  Scala  Cceli. 

The  other  church  is  called  “S.  Maria  Scala  Coeli,”  and  is  built 
over  the  cemetery  or  catacomb  of  S.  Zeno,  in  which,  according  to  the 
legend,  the  12,000  Christians  who  had  been  employed  in  building 
the  baths  of  Diocletian  were  buried.  The  church  derives  its  name 
from  a  vision  of  S.  Bernard,  in  which,  while  celebrating  mass  for 
certain  souls,  they  appeared  to  him  ascending  by  a  ladder  to  heaven. 
The  church  was  rebuilt  by  Cardinal  Farnese  from  the  designs  of 
Vignola,  and  completed  by  Giacomo  della  Porta ;  it  is  an  octagonal 
building,  with  a  central  cupola,  on  which  are  the  arms  and  name 
of  the  Cardinal,  and  the  date  1584.  It  has  a  mosaic  pavement 
of  the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  century,  and  the  altar  in  the  crypt  is 
enriched  with  mosaics.  It  has  also  one  of  the  ancient  stone  weights 
called  martyrs’  weights,  from  their  having  been  commonly  used  for 
drowning  the  martyrs. 

On  the  vault  of  the  apse  is  a  fine  mosaic  picture  by  Francesco 
Zucca,  from  the  cartoons  of  Giovanni  de’  Vecchi.  It  represents 
the  legend  or  vision  above  stated,  with  the  figure  of  Clement  VIII. 
and  Cardinal  Farnese.  The  mosaics  are  so  finely  executed  as  to 
have  quite  the  effect  of  an  oil-painting,  and  it  is  necessary  to  look 
at  them  with  some  care  to  be  satisfied  that  it  is  not  a  painting. 
This  is  considered  the  perfection  of  modern  mosaics ;  the  old  ones 
were  far  more  coarsely  executed,  for  effect  at  a  distance,  and  it  may 
be  added  that  there  is  the  same  difference  between  an  old  mosaic 
and  a  modern  one,  as  between  an  old  painted  glass  window  and  a 
window  of  the  Munich  school  of  the  present  day.  In  the  confessional 
under  the  apse  is  the  altar  at  which  S.  Bernard  is  said  to  have  had 
the  vision ;  and  partly  behind  it  is  a  small  cell,  in  which  S.  Paul  is 
supposed  to  have  been  confined  previous  to  his  execution. 

On  the  road  to  the  Tre  Fontane  is  a  small  modern  chapel,  erected 
in  1558,  on  the  spot  where  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul  are  said  to  have 
embraced  and  parted  on  their  way  to  martyrdom.  There  is  a  cross 
of  travertine  on  the  gable,  and,  under  a  marble  arch  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  by  the  side  of  the  door,  a  modern  bas-relief  of  the  sixteenth, 
representing  the  two  Apostles  as  embracing,  and  an  inscription  from 
the  apocryphal  Epistle  of  Dionysius  to  Timothy  q. 

1  IN  QVESTO  LVOCO  SI  SEPARARONO  DELLA  CHIESA,  E  PASTORE  DI 

S.  PIETRO  TVTTI  LI  AGNELLI  DI  CHRISTO  J 

E  S.  PAOLO,  ANDANDO  AL  MARTIRIO  ;  E  PIETRO  A  PAOLO  : 

E  DISSE  VA  IN  PACE,  PREDICATORE, 

PAOLO  A  PIETRO  :  COLLE  BVONI,  E  GVIDA 

LA  PACE  SIA  CON  TECO,  FVNDAMENTO  DE  LA  SALVTE  DE  GIVSTI. 


XII.]  Via  Appia. — 5.  Scbastianus  ad  Catacumbas. 


1 37 


VIA  APPIA. 

S.  Sebastianus  ad  Catacumbas. 

Church  of  S.  Sebastian  outside  the  Walls. 

This  church  has  the  title  of  a  basilica ,  and  it  is  both  monastic 
and  parochial.  Its  origin  is  involved  in  obscurity,  and  has  been 
much  disputed  ;  it  is  certainly  very  early,  probably  on  the  site  of 
one  of  the  earliest  of  the  Christian  chapels  erected  outside  the  walls 
at  the  entrances  to  the  Catacombs,  of  which  we  have  so  many.  An 
inscription  in  the  church  attributes  the  foundation  of  it  to  Innocent  I., 
a.d.  40 t — 417,  a  probable  date  for  the  first  church,  built  after  the 
reign  of  Constantine  on  the  site  of  an  earlier  cemetery  chapel. 

In  the  time  of  Bishop  Cornelius,  a.d.  254,  the  heads  of  S.  Peter 
and  S.  Paul  are  said  in  the  legends r  to  have  been  buried  in  this 
catacomb  by  the  matron  Lucina.  The  body  of  S.  Paul  she  depo¬ 
sited  in  her  residence  on  the  Via  Ostiensis,  over  which  the  great 
basilica  of  S.  Paul  was  afterwards  built,  this  being  near  the  place 
where  he  was  beheaded.  The  body  of  S.  Peter  Cornelius  she  took, 
and  put  it  under  the  spot  where  he  was  crucified,  among  the  bodies 
of  holy  bishops,  in  the  temple  of  Apollo,  in  the  Vatican  palace. 

The  heads  of  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul  are  said  to  have  remained  here 
for  several  months  before  they  were  removed  to  their  final  desti¬ 
nation,  and  to  have  been  deposited  in  the  crypt.  The  small  classical 
confessio  of  white  marble,  with  two  small  square  openings  to  see  the 
relics,  is  an  imitation  of  the  original  one,  when  the  heads  were  placed 
here.  The  character  of  the  present  one  is  of  the  twelfth  century ;  it 
has  small  twisted  marble  shafts  and  ribbon  mosaics. 

The  walls  of  the  apse,  and  a  considerable  part  of  those  of  the 
nave,  are  of  the  fifth  century ;  but  those  of  the  crypt,  or  chapel  of 
the  relics  by  the  side  of  it,  are  at  least  as  early  as  the  third,  if  not 
earlier.  This  crypt  is  covered  by  a  vault  of  the  fifth,  which  is  an 
evident  alteration,  resting  on  the  outer  edge  of  the  ancient  thick 
wall,  in  which  are  the  recesses  for  the  bodies.  This  chapel  has  all 
the  appearance,  from  its  size  and  form,  of  having  been  the  crypt 
under  the  apse  of  an  earlier  church,  which  originally  stood  by  the 
side  of  the  present  one,  as  at  S.  Crisogono  and  several  other  in¬ 
stances,  where  the  old  church  has  been  left  standing  until  the  new 
one  was  built,  and  portions  of  it  used  for  a  sacristy  or  for  other  pur- 

r  Anastasius,  xxii.  22,  mentions  the  bodies  only,  and  says  nothing  about  the 
heads  separate  from  the  bodies. 


133 


Churches  connected  with  the  Catacombs.  [SECT. 


poses.  The  recesses  or  arco-solia  in  the  walls  of  the  ancient  crypt 
are  exactly  the  same  as  those  in  the  Catacombs,  to  which  it  was 
the  entrance ;  they  are  ranged  in  the  wall  all  round  the  apse.  This 
chapel  was  called  the  Platonia ,  probably  from  the  plates  of  marble 
( platonice )  on  which  inscriptions  were  placed,  and  with  which  the 
walls  of  this  chapel  were  covered s. 

On  the  staircase  leading  to  the  crypt  is  a  small  chapel  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  with  the  original  paintings  on  the  walls,  also  of 
that  period,  and  a  tall  marble  altar  after  the  Pagan  fashion.  The 
subjects  of  the  paintings  are : — Christ  in  an  aureole,  or  vesica,  sup¬ 
ported  by  two  angels ;  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul  to  the  left,  the  massacre 
of  the  Innocents  to  the  right ;  the  Madonna  on  a  throne,  with  two 
angels  and  four  prophets,  and  under  them  S.  Sebastian,  S.  Fabian, 
two  angels,  and  the  Crucifixion.  On  the  vault  there  are  various 
patterns  interspersed  with  birds,  and  other  older  frescoes  under  them 
are  visible  in  places. 

In  the  gardens  of  the  monastery  are  ruins  of  other  small  early 


s  Most  of  these  inscriptions  have  been 
removed,  and  dispersed  in  museums, 
cloisters,  porticoes,  and  other  places, 
as  usual  with  all  the  inscriptions  from 
the  Catacombs ;  but  one  relating  to 
S.  Bridget  has  been  preserved,  and  is 
worth  printing  : — 

EX  .  CAP.  CVIII.  LIB.  IV.  REVEL.  S.  BRI- 
GITTAE. 

FRATER  ISTE  MIRATVR  QVARE  APOS- 
TOLI  MEI 

PETRVS  ET  PAVLVS  IN  ISTO  LOCO  CA- 
THACVMBAS 

TANTO  TEMPORE  IACVERVNT  ET  QVASI 
NEGLECTI 

RESPONDEO  TIBI  SCRIPTVRA  AVREA 
DICIT 

QVOD  ISRAEL  DIV  STETIT  IN  HEREMO 
QVIA 

MALITIA  GENTIVM 
QVARVM  TERRAS  POSSESSVRI  ERANT 
NONDVM  COMPLETA  FVIT  SIC  ETIAM 
ERAT  DE 

APOSTOLIS  MEIS 

NONDVM  ERAT  TEMPVS  GRATIAE 
QVO  CORPORA  APOSTOLORVM  MEORVM 
EXALTANDA  ERANT 
QVIA  PRIVS  DEBVIT  ESSE  TEMPVS  PRO- 
BATIONIS 

ET  POSTEA  CORONATIONIS 
ET  QVIA  NONDVM  ERANT  ILLI  NATI 
QVIBVS  HONOR  ILLE  EXALTATIONIS 
DEBEBATVR 

NVNC  AVTEM  POTES  QVAERERE  SI  ALI- 
QVEM 


HONOREM  CORPORA  EORVM  HABE- 
BANT 

EO  TEMPORE  QVO  IN  PVTEO  IACVE¬ 
RVNT 

RESPONDEO  TIBI  QVOD  ANGELI  MEI 

CVSTODIEBANT  ET  HONORABANT  COR¬ 
PORA 

ILL  A  BEAT  A 

QVIA  SICVT  LOCVS  ILLE  DILIGENTER 
EXCOLITVR 

VBI  ROSAE  ET  PLANTAE  SEMINANDAE 
SVNT 

SIC  ISTE  LOCVS  CATHACVMBAS  DIV 
ANTEA 

PRAEPARABATVR  ET  HONOR ABATVR 

DE  QVO  HOMINES  ET  ANGELI  LAETA- 
RENTVR 

IDEO  DICO  TIBI  QVOD  IN  MVNDO  MVLTA 
LOCA 

SVNT 

VBI  CORPORASANCTORVMREQVIESCVNT 
SED  NON  SIMILIA  HVIC  LOCO 
NAM  SI  SANCTI  NVMERARENTVR 

QVORVM  CORPORA  REPOSITA  HIC  FVE- 
RVNT 

VIX  CREDERETVR  IDEO  SICVT  HOMO 
INFIRMVS 

EX  BONO  ODORE  ET  CIBO  REFICITVR 

SIC  HOMINES  VENIENTES  AD  HVNC 
LOCVM 

MENTE  SINCERA  REC REANT VR  SPIRI- 
TVALITER 

ET  RECIPIVNT  VERAM  PECCATORVM 
REMISSIONEM 

VNVSQVISQVE  SECVNDVM  VITAM  SVAM 
ET  FIDEM. 


XII.]  Via  Appia. — S.  Scbastianiis  ad  Catacumbas . 


139 


chapels,  of  which  the  walls  only  remain,  and  these  in  a  ruinous  state. 
One  is  a  small  round  chapel  of  the  third  century,  with  niches,  and 
with  a  square  recess  for  the  altar.  This  may  have  been  built  over 
the  sand-pit  of  Lucina,  now  the  Catacomb,  as  described  by  Anas- 
tasius.  It  is  situated  between  the  road  and  the  buildings  of  the 
Monastery.  A  wall  of  the  eighth1  or  ninth  century  cuts  off  part 
of  the  apse  of  this  old  chapel,  shewing  that  it  was  out  of  use  at  that 
period.  This  wall  itself  belongs  to  another  chapel,  which  was  ob¬ 
long,  with  an  apse  at  each  end.  Around  the  entrance  to  each  of  the 
catacombs  there  were  usually  several  burial-chapels.  A  few  of  these 
were  earlier  than  the  time  of  Constantine ;  but  the  existing  ruins  of 
these  chapels  are  generally  of  the  fourth  or  fifth  century.  Those 
at  the  entrance  to  the  recently  discovered  catacomb  of  S.  Alexander 
have  been  better  preserved  than  usual,  with  tbTee  rude  mosaic  pave¬ 
ments  and  altars,  and  are  very  interesting. 

S.  Sebastian’s  was  in  a  great  degree  rebuilt  by  Cardinal  Scipio 
Borghese"  in  1612,  as  recorded  on  an  inscription,  and  the  present 
appearance  of  the  church  is  of  that  period.  It  stands  back  from  the 
road,  with  a  square  court  in  front,  as  if  intended  for  a  quadri- 
porticus ;  but  there  is  only  a  portico  of  three  arches,  with  six  granite 
columns.  There  are  no  aisles,  but  several  side  chapels ;  one  called 
the  chapel  of  S.  Sebastian  was  built  by  Cardinal  Barberini,  and  the 
body  of  the  saint  is  said  to  rest  under  the  altar.  There  are  other 
chapels  with  modern  paintings,  some  of  which  are  in  good  esti¬ 
mation. 

In  the  present  church,  there  is  a  subterranean  chapel  or  crypt  of 
S.  Sebastian  under  the  altar,  with  sculpture  of  1672.  The  relics  are 
usually  exhibited  and  made  much  of ;  they  consist  of  the  column 
to  which  S.  Sebastian  was  tied,  and  one  of  the  iron  arrows  with 
which  he  was  shot.  There  is  also  a  plate  of  marble,  on  which 
are  said  to  be  the  impressions  of  the  feet  of  Christ ;  but  it  can  be 
seen  to  be  evidently  worked  with  the  chisel. 

A  marble  slab  with  one  of  the  many  inscriptions  of  Pope  Damasus, 
a.d.  367,  is  preserved  here;  it  is  in  honour  of  Eutychius,  pope  and 
martyr  \  Damasus  also  placed  an  inscription  on  a  plate  of  marble 


1  This  may  be  part  of  the  work  re¬ 
corded  as  erected  by  Nicholas  I.,  a.d. 
858 — 867.  (Anastas,  in  Vita  Nic.  I. 
cvii.  601.) 

u  This  cardinal  also  rebuilt  the  church 
of  S.  Crisogono. 

x  EVTYCHIVS  .  MARTYR  .  CRVDELIA  . 
IVSSA  .  TYRANNI  . 


CARNIFICVMQ  .  VIAS  .  PARITER  .  TVNC  . 
MILLE  .  NOCENDI  . 

VINCERE  .  QVOD  .  POTVIT  .  MONSTRA- 
VIT  .  GLORIA  .  CHRISTI  . 

CARCERIS  .  INI.VVIEM  .  SEQVITVR  .  NO¬ 
VA  .  POENA  .  PER  .  ARTVS  . 
TESTARVM  .  FRAGMENTA  .  PARANT  . 
NE  .  SOMNVS  .  ADIRET  . 


140 


Churches  connected  with  the  Catacombs.  [SECT. 


( platoniantf )  in  the  catacomb  where  the  bodies  of  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul 
were  found,  and  which  certain  Greeks  had  endeavoured  to  steal  and 
carry  off  to  their  own  country z.  There  are  also  inscriptions  relating 
to  the  history  of  the  fabric,  recording  that  it  was  built  by  Proclinus 
and  Ursus,  priests  of  the  Titulus  (afterwards  called  cardinals),  in  the 
time  of  Pope  Innocent  I.,  a.d.  411 — 417  a. 

A  modern  inscription  states  that  74,000  martyrs  were  interred  in 
this  church  and  catacomb. 

In  the  catacomb  are  an  inscription  testifying  to  the  site  of  the  tomb 
of  S.  Cecilia,  by  William  archbishop  of  Bourges,  a.d.  1409 ;  a  figure 
in  stucco  of  Pope  Urban ;  a  chapel  of  S.  Maximus,  with  the  column 
on  which  he  was  beheaded ;  a  chapel  of  Lucina,  with  a  mosaic  pave¬ 
ment  of  the  twelfth  century,  and  a  carved  image  of  the  fifteenth. 

The  church  of  S.  Sebastian  is  situated  on  the  Via  Appia,  about 
two  miles  from  Rome.  This  road  is  still  in  many  parts  between 
this  church  and  the  town  at  its  original  level,  at  the  bottom  of  a  foss  ; 
the  earth  on  both  sides  is  nearly  as  high  as  the  top  of  the  high  walls, 
and  these  banks  are  occupied  by  a  series  of  tombs  and  catacombs. 
Many  of  the  tombs  are  now  merely  masses  of  rough  brick,  or  tufa, 
entirely  stripped  of  all  their  ornamental  work,  and  some  of  them 
have  been  turned  into  houses,  or  have  had  cottages  built  upon 
them, — some  at  an  early  period,  as  there  are  the  stone  corbels  for 
carrying  a  hourd  for  defence  on  one  near  the  catacomb  of  the  Jewsb. 


BISSENI  .  TRANSIERE  .  DIES  .  ALIMEN- 
TA  .  NEGANTVR  . 

MITTITVR  .  IN  .  BARATRVM  .  SANCTVS  . 

LA  VAT  .  OMNIA  .  SANGVIS  . 
VVLNERA  .  QVAE  .  INTVLERAT  .  MOR¬ 
TIS  .  METVENDA  .  POTESTAS  . 
NOCTE  .  SOPORIFERA  .  TVRBANT  .  IN¬ 
SOMNIA  .  MENTEM  . 

OSTENDIT  .  LATEBRA  .  INSONTIS  .  QVAE 
MEMBRA  .  TENERET  . 

QVAERITVR  .  INVENTVS  .  COLITVR  . 

FOVET  .  OMNIA  .  PRAESTAT  . 
EXPRESSIT  .  DAMASVS  .  MERITVM  .  VE- 
NERARE  .  SEPVLCHRVM. 
y  Anastasius,  xxxix.  54. 
z  The  original  of  this  inscription  is 
not  in  existence ;  the  present  one  is  a 
copy  of  the  thirteenth  century,  in  Gothic 
characters  : — 

HIC  HABITASSE  PRIUS  SANCTOS  COG- 
NOSCERE  DEBES, 

NOMINA  QUISQUE  PETRI,  PARITER  PAU- 
LIQUE  REQUIRIS. 

DISCIPULOS  ORIENS  MISIT,  QUOD  SPON- 
TE  FATEMUR, 


SANGUINIS  OB  MERITUM  CHRISTUM 
PER  ASTRA  SEQUTI 

AETHEREOS  PETIERE  SINUS,  REGNAQUE 
PIORUM  ; 

ROMA  SUOS  POTIUS  MERUIT  DEFEN¬ 
DERS  CIVES. 

HAEC  DAMASUS  VESTRAS  REFERAT  NO¬ 
VA  SIDERA  LAUDES. 

a  TEMPORIBVS  INNOCENTII  EPISCO- 
PI,  PROCLINVS  ET  VRSVS,  PRHJSBYTERI 
TITVLI  BYZANT1S,  S.  MARTYRI  SEBAS- 
TIANO  EX  VITA  FECERVNT. 

SANCTORVM  QVICVMQVE  LEGIS  VE- 
NERARE  SEPVLCHRVM 
NOMINA  NEC  NVMERVM  POTVIT  RETI- 
NERE  VETVSTAS, 

ORNAVIT  DAMASVS  TVMVLVM,  COG- 
NOSCITE,  RECTOR, 

PRO  REDITV  CLERI  CHRISTO  PRAE- 
STANTE  TRIVMPHANS, 
MARTYRIBVS  SANCTIS  REDDIT  SVA 
VOTA  SACERDOS. 

b  See  the  Section  on  Tombs. 


XII.] 


Via  Appia. — .S'.  Urbano. 


141 


Church  of  S.  Urbano  a  la  Caffarellac. 

This  temple  is  of  the  time  of  the  Antonines,  or  about  a.d.  150,  if 
not  earlier 3  it  is  nearly  complete,  though  in  a  decayed  and  neglected 
state.  It  consists  of  a  square  cella  with  its  vault  complete,  panelled 
in  sunk  caissons,  and  a  portico  of  four  Corinthian  columns,  the  in¬ 
tervals  between  which  have  been  walled  up  to  make  a  habitation 
for  the  priest  or  hermit.  It  stands  on  the  brow  of  a  cliff  in  a  solitary 
place,  near  the  tomb  of  Cgecilia  Metella,  and  what  is  called  the 
Grotto  of  Egeria,  an  antique  fountain  in  a  cave  in  the  cliff  below, 
and  is  about  two  miles  beyond  the  gate  of  S.  Sebastian. 

S.  Urban  I.,  who  was  Pope  a.d.  223 — 230,  is  said  to  have  used 
the  crypt  under  it  as  a  hermitage  and  place  of  concealment  during 
the  time  of  the  persecution  under  Septimius  Severus  3  it  is  far 
more  probable  that  this  was  in  the  catacomb  adjoining.  There  is 
also  another  tradition  that  the  same  Pontiff  here  instructed  in  the 
Christian  faith  Valerianus,  Tiburtius  and  Maximus,  all  of  whom 
were  martyrs,  whom  he  buried  in  the  chapel  of  S.  Cecilia,  in  the 
catacomb  of  S.  Calixtus,  and  that  he  was  himself  buried  by  their 
side.  This  old  temple  is  supposed  to  have  been  dedicated  as  a 
church  in  his  honour  by  Paschal  I.  in  the  ninth  century,  and  re¬ 
stored  by  Urban  VIII.  in  16943  but  neither  Anastasius  nor  any 
other  ecclesiastical  historian  mentioning  this  dedication,  there  seems 
reason  to  doubt  whether  it  was  ever  consecrated  as  a  church  at  all 
before  the  time  of  Urban  IV.  in  1694.  It  had  previously  been 
considered  as  a  hermitage,  and  a  place  of  pilgrimage,  like  the 
chapels  in  the  Catacombs,  and  it  was  decorated  with  paintings 
on  the  walls  in  frescoes,  in  the  same  manner,  and  at  the  same 
periods.  Accordingly  the  walls  are  covered  with  a  series  of  paint¬ 
ings  of  the  eleventh  century,  in  a  very  decayed  state  3  they  are  sub¬ 
jects  from  the  Evangelical  history,  and  from  the  lives  of  S.  Cecilia 
and  S.  Urban,  and  the  work  of  a  hermit  called  Bonizzo,  who  resided 
here  in  1001.  These  frescoes  are  extremely  curious  and  interest¬ 
ing,  in  spite  of  their  bad  state  3  as  works  of  art,  they  are  of  very 
early  character.  There  is  a  long  series  of  them,  in  two  tiers  along 
both  sides  and  both  ends  3  those  at  the  ends  have  been  partly  re¬ 
stored,  those  at  the  sides  have  not.  In  the  crypt  or  confessio, 
which  is  very  small  and  early,  and  unusually  deep,  is,  over  the  small 
altar,  another  painting,  which  entirely  fills  up  the  end  of  it.  This 

c  This  is  called  by  some  a  Temple  of  called  by  others  the  Tomb  of  Herodes 
Bacchus,  from  an  altar  found  there,  Atticus,  but  without  any  authority, 
and  now  preserved  in  the  porch.  It  is 


142 


Churches  connected  with  the  Catacombs. 


fresco  represents  the  Madonna,  with  the  Christ  clothed  as  a  little 
man,  not  as  a  child;  S.  Urban  on  her  right,  and  S.  John  on  her 
left,  with  their  names  inscribed  vertically.  The  figures  are  well 
drawn,  and  correspond  nearly  with  others  of  the  time  of  Paschal  I., 
a.d.  817 — 824,  as  in  the  mosaics  and  the  paintings  in  the  chapel 
of  S.  Agnes,  in  the  church  of  S.  Prassede.  There  was  no  persecution 
of  the  Christians  going  on  at  the  time  of  the  death  of  S.  Urban,  and 
there  is  no  evidence  that  he  was  a  martyr. 

The  real  construction  of  the  walls  is,  as  usual,  a  mass  of  concrete 
faced  on  the  exterior  with  the  most  admirable  brickwork  ;  the  vault, 
the  cornice,  and  the  mouldings  are  of  terra-cotta d.  The  same 
brickwork  and  the  same  details  of  terra-cotta  occur  in  the  doorway 
and  portico  at  the  entrance  to  the  catacomb,  in  the  bank  by 
the  side  of  the  paved  via  or  cross-road  between  S.  Urbano  and 
S.  Sebastiano,  now  underground  in  consequence  of  the  filling  up 
of  the  via  in  fossa,  as  in  so  many  other  places  in  Rome  and  the 
neighbourhood. 

Since  this  was  written,  I  have  been  favoured  by  Mr.  J.  C.  Hemans 
with  the  following  notice  of  the  Church  of  S.  Urbano,  and  the  curious 
paintings  on  the  walls. 

“We  must  pass  to  the  eleventh  century  in  order  to  consider  a  more 
interesting  series  of  wall-paintings— the  date,  ion,  being  fortunately 
preserved,  though  but  in  a  copy — in  the  antique  edifice  above  the 
valley  of  the  Almo,  popularly  called  ‘Temple  of  Bacchus,’  and  con¬ 
verted  into  a  church  dedicated  to  S.  Urban  I.,  by  Pope  Paschal  I., 
about  a.d.  820 ;  modernized  by  Urban  VIII.,  as  we  now  see  it,  in 
1634.  The  antique  brickwork  and  terra-cotta  mouldings  are  of 
almost  the  finest  description.  This  picturesque  building  was  not  in 
fact  a  Pagan  temple  in  any  strict  sense  of  that  term,  but  one  of  that 
class  of  patrician  Mausolea  called  horreum ,  that  might  be  described  as 
chapel-tombs,  where  the  altar  and  occasional  religious  rites  had  their 
place  in  the  home  of  the  dead.  Around  its  interior  walls  is  carried 
a  double  file  of  frescoes,  representing  the  evangelic  history  from  the 
Annunciation  to  the  Descent  into  Limbo  (or  Hades),  the  story  of 


d  There  is  some  doubt  whether  it  ever 
was  a  temple  at  all.  No  notice  of  it  has 
been  found  in  any  ancient  author,  and 
some  good  antiquaries  think  that  it  was 
only  one  of  the  chapels  built  at  the  en¬ 
trance  to  the  Catacombs  ;  but  we  have 
no  other  instance  of  a  portico  to  one  of 
them,  and  the  second  century  is  rather 
too  early  a  date  to  make  this  probable. 
The  construction  may  be  rather  earlier 


than  the  time  of  the  Antonines,  men¬ 
tioned  in  the  text  as  the  period  to  which 
it  is  usually  assigned.  The  moulded 
brickwork  is  remarkably  good,  and  the 
marble  columns  belong  to  the  best 
period  of  art. 

A  good  set  of  engravings  of  a  re¬ 
storation  of  this  temple  has  been  pub¬ 
lished  by  Canina. 


XII.]  Via  Appia. — 5.  JJrbano.  143 


Pope  S.  Urban  (martyred  a.d.  233),  and  that  of  S.  Cecilia  and  her 
affianced,  Valerian,  with  his  brother  Tiburtius ;  also,  quite  distinct 
from  these,  the  martyrdom  of  S.  Laurence.  The  introduction  of 
this  last  subject  may  be  accounted  for  when  we  refer  to  the  inscrip¬ 
tion  under  the  Crucifixion-scene,  bonizzo  fecit  anno  christi  mxi, 
a  person  of  that  name,  Bonizzo,  having  been  abbot  of  the  S.  Lorenzo 
monastery,  where  his  epitaph  has  been  found,  with  the  date  of  his 
death,  1022  ;  and  we  may  conclude  that  the  church  of  S.  Urbano  had 
passed  under  his  jurisdiction  before  these  pictures  were  ordered  by 
him,  with  especial  desire  to  honour  the  saint  to  whom  his  own 
monastery  was  dedicated.  Before  observing  the  frescoes  here  in 
detail,  we  might  examine  two  sets  of  coloured  drawings  from  them 
in  the  Barberini  library,  one  executed  before ,  the  other  after ,  the  ori¬ 
ginals  had  been  repainted  by  order  of  a  cardinal  of  the  Barberini 
family.  We  cannot  certainly  commend  for  correctness  or  scrupu¬ 
losity  the  artist,  who  did  not  hesitate  to  alter,  in  several  instances, 
costumes,  attitude,  symbolism,  and  even  the  character  of  counte¬ 
nances.  In  the  Crucifixion-scene,  and  in  that  opposite,  of  the  Savi¬ 
our  between  SS.  Peter  and  Paul  and  two  archangels,  this  alteration 
has  been  so  unreservedly  carried  out,  that  we  cannot  regard  the  ex¬ 
isting  pictures  as  in  any  degree  identical  with  the  antique.  To  the 
figure  of  S.  Peter  has  been  given  the  keys,  to  that  of  S.  Paul  the 
sword,  though  both  attributes  are  wanting  in  the  original ;  but  the 
other  scenes  from  the  New  Testament,  and  from  the  legend  of  saints, 
are  fortunately  in  better  condition,  generally  free  from  alteration,  or 
rather  (as  we  may  infer)  exempt  from  the  destroying  touch  of  that 
ill-counselled  artist.  The  epigraph  with  dates  (under  the  Crucifixion) 
is  also  a  restoration ;  but  in  the  original  a  part  of  it  is  seen,  to  which 
we  may  suppose  the  date  was  added,  according  to  a  tradition  as  to 
what  had  once  been  read  after  the  name  of  Bonizzo.  At  least  it  seems 
incredible  that  the  learned  Cardinal  should  have  allowed  the  artist 
to  follow  his  own  fancy  in  a  matter  so  important. 

“  Most  beautiful  among  the  external  features  of  S.  Urbano  is  the 
classic  Corinthian  colonnade  of  the  peristyle,  the  intercolumniations 
of  which  have  been  built  up,  probably  in  the  works  ordered  by 
Urban  VIII.  Below  the  altar  is  a  crypt,  into  which  we  descend 
by  steps,  containing  a  rude  altar,  and  some  Christian  paintings  of 
the  most  barbaric  description — a  Madonna  and  child,  with  Pope 
S.  Urban  and  S.  John  the  Evangelist;  the  title  of  Mary  is  inscribed 
above  her  head  in  Greek.” 


144 


Churches  connected  with  the  Catacombs.  [SECT. 


Tomb  of  S.  Helena,  and  Church  of  SS.  Marcellinus  and 
Peter  the  Exorcist. 

A  church  was  made  by  Constantine  under  this  dedication,  and 
this  has  been  supposed  to  have  been  in  the  mausoleum e  where  his 
mother,  S.  Helena,  was  buried  in  a  sarcophagus  of  porphyry,  at  the 
third  mile  from  Rome  on  the  Via  Lavicana,  or  Labicana. 

The  interior  of  the  mausoleum  was  used  as  a  burial-chapel,  with 
a  series  of  niches  or  recesses  formed  in  the  thickness  of  the  wall, 
both  outside  and  inside,  which  remain,  and  one  of  these  in  the 
inside  is  fitted  up  with  an  altar.  A  small  modern  church  has  been 
made  within  the  walls  since  the  vault  was  destroyed ;  but  it  was 
originally  a  circular  church,  or  burial-chapel,  with  the  sarcophagus 
in  the  middle  and  the  recesses  round,  and  the  vault  above,  which 
was  built  of  earthenware  pots  or  vases,  like  many  others  of  the 
same  period,  portions  of  which  may  be  seen  at  the  springing  of 
the  vault. 

To  this  church  and  mausoleum  Constantine  gave  a  number  of 
gifts,  altar  furniture,  images,  &c.,  of  gold  and  silver,  similar  to  those 
presented  to  S.  Peter’s  ;  they  are  enumerated  by  Anastasius f,  but  it  is 
sufficient  here  to  refer  to  them. 

The  magnificent  sarcophagus,  of  red  Egyptian  porphyry8,  was  found 
in  the  mausoleum  in  the  time  of  Anastasius  IV.,  and  was  removed  by 
him  for  his  own  sepulture  to  Saint  John  of  Lateran,  from  which  it 


•  Eusebius  mentions  this  royal  tomb, 
ancl  the  honours  paid  by  Constantine  to 
his  mother.  See  De  Vita  Constantini, 
lib.  iii.  cap.  47. 

f  “.  .  .  Augustus  Constantinus  fecit 
basilicam  BB.  MM.  Marcellino  pres- 
bytero,  et  Petro  exorcistse,  inter  duas 
Lauras,  et  mausoleum,  ubi  beatissima 
mater  ipsius  sepulta  est  PI elena  Augusta, 
in  sarcophago  porphyretico,  Via  Lavi¬ 
cana,  milliario  ab  urbe  Roma  tertio. .  . . 
posuit  dona  voti  sui.  ”  (Anastasius  in 
Silvestro,  a.d.  314,  xxxiv.  44.) 

There  is  some  doubt  whether  the 
construction  and  dedication  of  a  mo¬ 
dem  church  to  SS.  Peter  and  Mar¬ 
cellinus,  within  the  tomb  of  S.  Helena, 
is  not  altogether  a  mistake.  The  tomb 
itself  was  originally  a  church  or  chapel 
dedicated  to  S.  Helena  herself,  as  was 
natural  with  her  tomb  in  the  middle  of 
it.  The  church  of  S.  Marcellinus  and 
S.  Peter  the  exorcist  was  inter  duas  Lau¬ 


ras,  that  is,  between  the  two  great  mo¬ 
nasteries  of  S.  Maria  Maggiore  and 
S.  John  of  Lateran,  where  a  small  church 
under  this  vocable  has  existed  ever 
since  the  time  of  Constantine,  and  has 
been  rebuilt.  It  is  not  probable  that 
Constantine  built  and  dedicated  two 
churches  to  the  same  saints  in  the 
same  year.  Vide  Ducange,  Glossarium 
med.  et  inf.  latin.,  sub  voce  Laura , 
vol.  iv.  p.  46,  col.  2. 

g  It  was  considered  by  the  antiquaries 
of  the  last  century  that  this  urn  of  por¬ 
phyry,  with  its  sculptures  in  basso  re¬ 
lievo,  was  a  monument  of  antique  and 
profane  work.  See  Bottari,  Sculture 
e  pitture  sagre  estratte  dai  cimiterj  di 
Roma,  &c.,  vol.  iii.  tav.  clxcvi.  But 
the  great  resemblance  between  this  sar¬ 
cophagus  and  that  of  Constantia,  the 
grand-daughter  of  S.  Helena,  is  now 
considered  to  render  it  probable  that 
both  are  of  the  time  of  Constantine. 


XII.] 


Via  Labicana. —  Tomb  of  S.  Helena. 


145 


was  transferred  to  the  museum  of  the  Vatican  by  Pio  VI.  It  is 
covered  with  sculpture  in  basso  relievo,  representing  a  battle,  with 
portraits  of  Constantine  and  Helena,  and  the  cross  is  ornamented 
with  figures  of  Victory,  and  festoons  of  flowers  and  fruit.  The 
sculpture  is  very  fine  ;  but  it  was  unfortunately  so  much  damaged  in 
the  removal,  that  it  had  to  be  very  much  restored,  and  a  great  deal 
of  the  actual  work  is  consequently  modern,  of  the  old  design. 

This  mausoleum  stands  over  the  entrance  to  the  catacomb  now 
called  that  of  SS.  Pietro  e  Marcellino,  which  is  of  considerable  ex¬ 
tent,  but  is  in  the  same  melancholy  desecrated  state  as  the  other 
catacombs,  the  inscriptions  on  the  slabs  which  closed  the  graves 
having,  as  usual,  been  removed  to  be  put  into  museums  or  cloisters, 
and  the  bones  to  be  sold  as  relics  h. 

Constantine  had  near  this  spot  a  country  palace,  which  has  been 
entirely  destroyed,  having  been  used  as  a  quarry  by  the  neighbouring 
farmers  ;  but  a  branch  aqueduct  to  supply  it  with  water  still  remains, 
sufficiently  perfect  to  indicate  the  site.  This  palace  and  the  large 
estate  belonging  to  it  formed  part  of  the  donation  of  Constantine  to 
the  Chapter  of  the  Lateran,  and  the  estate  still  continues  to  be  their 
property.  The  present  state  of  the  mausoleum,  the  catacombs,  and 
the  palace,  is  lamentable ;  and  the  whole  estate  is  almost  a  desert.. 
Whether  really  owing  to  the  alleged  causes,  the  devastations  of  the 
Goths,  who  destroyed  the  aqueduct,  which  has  not  been  restored, 
and  the  increase  of  malaria,  or  simply  to  neglect,  and  the  want  of 
irrigation,  may  be  doubtful.  The  admirable  system  of  irrigation  and 
drainage  which  was  in  use  under  the  Empire,  and  of  which  remains 
or  traces  are  found  every  day,  must  have  made  the  Campagna  around 
Rome  some  of  the  most  fertile  land  in  the  world  K 


h  See  an  account  of  that  catacomb  in 
Sect.  vii. 

*  The  want  of  vegetation  in  the  sum¬ 
mer  months,  caused  by  the  want  of 
water,  and  especially  the  want  of  trees, 
is  believed  by  some  well-informed  per¬ 
sons  to  be  the  principal  cause  of  the 
malaria.  The  disease  existed  from  a 
very  early  period,  and  one  of  the  ob¬ 
jects  in  making  the  great  aqueducts  in 
the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era 
was  to  remove  it,  as  is  mentioned  by 
Frontinus  in  his  account  of  them. 
When  Anselm,  Archbishop  of  Canter¬ 
bury,  paid  a  visit  to  Rome,  he  was 
taken  out  of  town,  on  account  of  the 
malaria ,  chiefly  dangerous  to  the  pil¬ 


grims  :  “Verum  quia  cal  or  sestatis  in 
partibus  illis  cuncta  urebat,  et  habitatio 
Urbis  nimium  insalubris,  sed  praccipue 
peregrinis  hominibus  erat,  Johannes  .  . . 
Abbas  coenobii  Sancti  Salvatoris  Tele- 
sim  .  .  .  eduxit  (eum)  in  suarn,  villam 
Schlaviam  nomine,  quae  in  montis  ver- 
tice  sita  sano  jugiter  aere  atque  tepenti, 
conversantibus  illic  habilis  erat.”  (Ead- 
merus,  de  Vita  S.  Anselmi,  ad  ealeem 
ejus  Operum,  ed.  Bened.  Lut.  Paris., 
1721,  fob,  p.  20,  col.  2,  A.  “Hie 
(Johannes)  .  .  .  deprecatus  est,  quate- 
nus  ad  se  veniret  ...  ad  evitandas  Ro- 
manae  Urbis  aegritudines,”  &c.  (Id. 
Hist.  Novorum ,  lib.  ii.  ibid.,  p.  51, 
col.  1,  D.) 


L 


146 


Churches  connected  with  the  Catacombs. 


[SECT. 


S.  Agnes  outside  the  Walls. 

The  basilica  of  S.  Agnes  beyond  the  Walls  is  one  of  those  founded 
by  Constantine j,  a.d.  314;  it  retains  nothing  of  his  time,  except 
the  antique  columns,  which  may  be  earlier. 

The  church  was  probably  repaired  or  enlarged  about  fifty  years 
after  the  time  of  Constantine,  by  Pope  Damasus,  as  two  of  his  in¬ 
scriptions  are  placed  in  it,  one  of  which  has  been  removed ;  but  the 
words  are  preserved  by  Gruterk.  The  other  is  still  in  the  church. 

It  was  entirely  rebuilt  by  Pope  Honorius,  a.d.  626 — 638  ;  the 
words  of  Anastasius 1  are  quite  distinct  on  this  point : — 

“At  the  same  time  he  made  the  church  of  the  blessed  Agnes  the 
Martyr,  at  the  third  mile  from  Rome,  on  the  Numentana  road,  from 


J  “Eodem  tempore  fecit  basilicam 
sanctse  martyris  Agnetis  ex  rogatu  Con- 
stantiae  filiae  suae,  et  baptisterium  in 
eodem  loco,  ubi  et  baptizata  est  soror 
ejus  Constantia  cum  filia  Augusti  a  Sil- 
vestro  episcopo,  ubi  donum  constituit 
hoc.  .  .  .  Via  Salaria  subPavetinas  usque 
omnem  agrum  S.  Agnes,  praestantem 
solidos  centum  et  quinque  ;  agrum  Muci, 
praestantem  solidos  octuaginta ;  posses- 
sio  Vicopisonis,  praestans  solidos  ducen- 
tos  et  quinquaginta ;  agrum  Caculas, 
praestantem  solidos  centum.”  (Anasta¬ 
sius,  xxxiv.  42.) 

It  would  be  curious  to  see  whether 
these  lands  can  be  identified  as  still  be¬ 
longing  to  this  monastery. 
k  CONSTANTINA  .  DEVM  .  VENERANS  . 

CHRISTOQVE  .  DICATA 
OMNIBVS  .  IMPENSIS.  DEVOTA  .  MENTE. 
PA  RAT  IS  . 

NVMINE  .  DIVINO  .  MVLTVM  .  CHRIS¬ 
TOQVE  .  IVVANTE 

SACRAVIT  .  TEMPLVM  .  VICTRICIS .  VIR- 
GINIS  .  AGNES 

TEMPLORVM  .  QVAE  .  VICIT  .  OPVS  .  TER- 
RENAQVE  .  CVNCTA 

AVREA  .  QVAE  .  RVTILAT  .  SVMMI  .  FAS- 
TIGIA  .  TECTI 

NOMEN  .  ENIM  .  CHRISTI  .  CELEBRA- 
TVR  .  SEDIBVS  .  ISTIS  . 
TARTAREAM  .  SOLVS  .  POTVIT  .  QVI  . 

VINCERE  .  MORTEM 
INVECTVS  .  CELO  .  SOLVSQVE .  INFERRE. 
TRIVMPHVM 

NOMEN  .  ADHVC  .  REFERENS  .  ET  .  COR- 
PVS  .  ET  .  OMNIA  .  MEMBRA 
A  .  MORTIS  .  TENEBRIS  .  ET  .  CAECA  . 
NOCTE  .  LEVATA  . 

DIGNVM  .  IGITVR  .  MVNVS  .  MARTYR  . 

DEVOTAQVE  .  CHRISTO 
EX  .  OPIBVS  .  NOSTRIS  .  PER  .  SAECVLA  . 
LONGA  .  TENEBIS 


O  .  FELIX  .  VIRGO  .  MEMORANDI  .  NO¬ 
MINIS  .  AGNES. 

(Gruter,  Inscr.  Ant.,  p.  M  CLXI.  n.  9.) 

On  a  marble  slab,  in  a  chapel  on  the 
left-hand  side  of  the  nave,  is  the  other 
inscription  in  verse  in  honour  of  S. 
Agnes,  written  by  Pope  Damasus,  and 
engraved  in  the  beautiful  letters  of  his 
period,  A.D.  365 — 385  : — 

FAMA  REFERT  SANCTOS  DVDVM  RETV- 
LISSE  PARENTES, 

AGNEN,  CVM  LVGVBRES  CANTVS  TVBA 
CONCREPVISSET, 

NVTRICIS  GREMIVM  SVBITO  LIQVISSE 
PVELLAM, 

SPONTE  TRVCIS  CALCASSE  MINAS  RA- 
BIEMQVE  TYRANNI, 

VRERE  CVM  FLAMMIS  VOLVISSET  NO¬ 
BILE  CORPVS ; 

VIRIBVS  IMMENSVM  PARVIS  SVPERASSE 
TIMOREM, 

NVDAQVE  PROFVSVM  CRINEM  PER 
MEMBRA  DEDISSE, 

NE  DOMINI  TEMPLVM  FACIES  PERI- 
TVRA  VIDERET : 

O  VENERANDA  MIHI  SANCTVM  DECVS 
ALMA  PVDORIS, 

VT  DAMASI  PRECIBVS  FAVEAS  PRECOR, 
INCLYTA  MARTYR. 

1  “  (Honorius)  .  .  .  fecit  ecclesiam 
beatae  Agnetis  martyris  milliario  ab 
urbe  Roma  tertio,  Via  Numentana,  a 
solo,  ubi  requiescit,  quarn  undique  or- 
navit  et  exquisivit,  ubi  posuit  rnulta 
dona.  Ornavit  autem  sepulcrum  ejus 
ex  argento,  quod  pensan.  libras  252. 
Posuit  et  desuper  ciburium  sereum  de- 
auratum  mirse  magnitudinis.  Fecit  et 
gabathos  aureos  quatuor,  pensan.  sing, 
libras  singulas.  Fecit  absidam  ejusdem 
basilicas  ex  musibo,  ubi  etiam  multa 
bma  obtulit.”  (Anastas.,  lxxii.  119.) 


XII.]  Via  Nomentana . — 5.  Agnes  foris  Murum. 


147 


the  ground  (in  which  she  is  buried),  which  he  everywhere  adorned 
and  ornamented,  to  which  he  also  gave  many  gifts ;  and  her  tomb 
he  ornamented  with  silver  of  the  weight  of  252  lbs.,  and  over  it 
he  placed  a  ciborium m  of  bronze  gilt,  of  great  magnificence  ;  and 
then  he  made  the  apse  of  the  church  with  a  mosaic  picture,  and 
he  added  many  other  donations.”  The  gold  and  silver  vessels  have 
disappeared,  as  usual ;  but  the  mosaics  remain. 

It  is  probable  that  among  the  gifts  of  Constantine  for  the  endow¬ 
ment  of  this  church  and  monastery  was  the  imperial  villa  of  Max- 
entius,  in  the  grounds  of  which  this  and  S.  Constantia  are  built. 
There  are  evident  traces  of  some  large  buildings  of  the  period  near 
the  baptistery,  and  the  ruins  called  the  Hippodrome  of  Maxentius, 
in  the  valley  adjoining,  are  still  of  considerable  extent.  It  was  here 
that  Liberius  took  refuge  on  his  return  from  exile  before  he  ven¬ 
tured  into  the  city,  as  mentioned  in  our  account  of  the  catacomb  to 
which  this  church  was  the  entrance.  In  the  time  of  Innocent  I., 
a.d.  402 — 417,  it  was  richly  ornamented  by  the  presbyters  Leopardus 
and  Paulinus.  About  a  century  afterwards  Symmachus  restored  the 
apse  or  tribune,  then  in  a  ruinous  state. 

The  mosaic  pictures  which  adorn  it  are  of  remarkable  character  and 
good  of  their  kind,  although  of  a  bad  style  of  art.  The  central  figure 
on  the  vault  of  the  apse  is  S.  Agnes  herself,  richly  attired  in  a  Greek 
costume  with  jewels,  tall  and  stately,  rather  stiff,  but  with  a  certain 
air  of  dignity,  holding  a  book  ;  and  the  hand  of  the  Almighty  n,  issuing 
out  of  a  cloud,  holds  the  jewelled  crown  of  martyrdom  over  her 
head.  To  her  right  is  Pope  Honorius,  with  a  model  of  the  church 
in  his  hand,  as  the  builder  of  the  actual  church ;  to  her  left,  Pope 
Symmachus,  with  a  book,  as  the  original  founder.  Under  their  feet 
is  a  long  inscription  in  gold  letters,  on  a  blue  ground,  formed  of 
lapis  lazuli.  The  heads  of  the  two  popes  have  been  restored,  but 
the  character  of  the  original  drawing  is  preserved. 


m  Or  a  cupola.  On  the  etymology  of 
ciborium,  the  exact  meaning  of  which  is 
uncertain,  see  du  Cange,  Glossar.  med. 
et  infim.  Latinit.  sub  voce,  et  Constan- 
tinopolis  Christiana,  No.  57  ;  Macri, 
Hierolexicon,  sub  voce  ;  Bingham,  Ori- 
gines  et  Antiquitates  Ecclesiastics,  t.  iii. 
lib.  viii.  c.  vi.  §  xviii.  An  older  name 
for  this,  the  true  origin  of  which  is  no 
less  uncertain,  is  that  of  appallarea  or 
appellaria,  used  by  Anastasius  (lxxxvi. 
162),  and  about  which  one  may  consult 
Pacciaudi,  de  Umbell.  Gestat.,  pp.  56,  57. 

“  This  way  of  representing  the  Al¬ 
mighty,  by  an  arm  issuing  out  of  a  cloud, 


is  a  symbolism  which  must  be  derived 
from  the  traditions  of  oriental  art.  At 
any  rate,  it  is  a  curious  fact  to  note 
that  the  Almighty  never  figures  in  per¬ 
sona  in  the  pictures  of  the  Catacombs  ; 
either  the  art  of  the  primitive  Christians 
being  considered  as  thoroughly  power¬ 
less  to  represent  that  great  figure  of  the 
Supreme  Being,  or  because  a  sacred 
motive  forbade  them  to  conceive  so  bold 
an  idea.  We  are  disposed  to  adopt  the 
latter  opinion,  since  we  see,  even  in  the 
medieval  manuscripts  of  the  Psalter,  the 
presence  of  God  always  represented  as 
in  the  mosaic  of  S.  Agnes. 


L  2 


148 


Churches  connected  with  the  Catacombs.  [sect. 


It  was  again  repaired  by  Hadrian  I.,  a.d.  772,  after  it  had 
been  damaged  in  the  siege  by  the  Lombards.  The  church  has 
been  thoroughly  modernized  ;  but  the  old  plan  and  arrangement 
have  been  retained,  and  it  is  one  of  the  few  churches  in  Rome 
which  has  a  triforium  gallery.  The  original  church  of  S.  Lorenzo 
fuori  le  Mura  appears  to  have  been  on  the  same  plan,  and  that 
of  the  Santi  Quattro  Incoronati  very  similar.  The  body  of  the 
church  is  below  the  level  of  the  ground,  so  that  the  entrance  to  it 
is  down  a  flight  of  steps,  while  that  to  the  triforium  is  on  the  level ; 
this  gallery  is  continued  across  the  west  end  as  well  as  the  sides. 

In  1256,  three  altars  were  dedicated  in  this  church  by  Pope 
Alexander  IV.0,  in  honour  of  S.  John  Baptist,  S.  John  Evangelist, 
and  S.  Emerantiana.  The  church  has  been  re-decorated  in  1856 
at  the  expense  of  Pope  Pio  IX.,  and  is  now  considered  one  of  the 
handsomest  in  Rome.  Its  archaeological  interest,  of  course,  could 
not  be  improved  by  the  process ;  but  neither  was  it  deteriorated, 
the  modernization  having  been  effected  at  a  previous  period.  Some 
considerable  alterations  had  been  made  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
at  the  time  when  the  three  new  altars  were  consecrated. 

The  nave  has  a  rich  ceiling  of  carved  wood,  with  the  arms  of 
Cardinal  Sfrondati,  1606;  the  sculptures  in  this  ceiling  represent 
S.  Agnes,  S.  Cecilia,  and  S.  Constantia.  The  grand  staircase,  a  flight 
of  thirty-two  marble  steps,  was  made  about  that  time,  and  the  death 
of  Paul  V.  was  caused  by  the  chill  that  he  received  here  in  perform¬ 
ing  Mass  on  the  re-opening  of  the  church  after  these  alterations.  The 
six  antique  columns  in  the  nave  are  not  all  alike ;  four  are  of  one 
kind  of  marble,  and  two  of  another.  Those  of  the  triforium  gallery 
are  different  again,  and  fluted,  some  vertically,  others  spirally.  In 
a  side  chapel  is  a  marble  altar  with  mosaic  patterns  of  a.d.  1256. 
The  outer  walls  of  the  church  are  chiefly  of  the  twelfth  century. 

This  church  is  the  entrance  to  one  of  the  principal  catacombs. 
On  this  spot  S.  Agnes  herself  was  buried ;  and  here  also  was  the 
cemetery  of  the  family  of  Constantine,  it  being  under  one  of  the 
imperial  farms.  (See  Sect,  vii.) 

The  campanile  is  of  the  fifteenth  century,  badly  built,  and  sup¬ 
ported  by  ugly  buttresses ;  but  it  is  ornamented  with  paterae  of  ma¬ 
jolica,  and  has  somewhat  of  the  character  of  the  older  campaniles. 

0  X  ANNO  DOMINI  M.CC.LVI.  INDIC.  CVM  TOTA  CVRIA  CONSECRAV.  IN  HAC 
XI1II.  EO  DIE  QVO  STATIO  BEATI  VITAL.  ECCLESIA  SANCTE  AGNETIS  TRIA  AL- 
CEI.EE  RATVR  D.  ALEXANDER  PP.  IIII.  TARIA,  &C. 


XII.] 


Via  Nomentana . — 5.  Constantia. 


149 


S.  Constantia. 

The  Emperor  Constantine  is  said  by  Anastasius  to  have  built 
several  churches  in  Rome,  the  most  important  of  which  was  the 
one  known  as  the  Basilica  of  Constantine,  now  the  Lateran,  and 
to  have  also  founded  the  basilicas  of  S.  Peter  and  of  S.  Paul,  of 
Holy  Cross,  S.  Agnes,  and  S.  Laurence,  in  none  of  which  (except 
the  Holy  Cross)  are  there  now  any  remains  of  his  time,  and  the  church 
of  S.  Marcellinus  and  Peter  the  Exorcist,  in  the  mausoleum  of  his 
mother  Helena p.  The  baptistery  at  the  Lateran  is  also  said  to 
have  been  built  by  him ;  but  little,  if  anything,  of  his  time  is  there 
remaining. 

The  Church  or  Baptistery  of  S.  Constantia  is  in  the  grounds 
of  the  monastery  of  S.  Agnes,  near  the  church,  and  may  have  been 
built  by  Constantine  as  the  sepulchral  chapel  of  his  daughter  and 
sister,  both  of  the  same  name.  If  so,  this  seems  to  be  the  only 
perfect  and  unaltered  building  of  his  time  now  remaining  in  Rome ; 
but  it  is  the  opinion  of  well-informed  Roman  archaeologists  that  it 
was  erected  by  his  sons q.  It  is  a  circular  edifice  with  an  aisle  round 
it,  separated  from  the  central  space  by  twenty-four  coupled  shafts, 
carrying  small  round  arches.  The  vaults  of  the  aisle  are  ornamented 
with  very  rich  mosaics  in  various  patterns,  the  most  remarkable  of 
which  is  the  cultivation  of  the  vine ;  which  led  Ciampini  and  other 
authors  to  think  that  it  had  been  originally  a  temple  of  Bacchus. 

The  outer  walls  are  ten  feet  thick,  built  of  rubble  stone  or  con¬ 
crete,  plastered  on  the  inside  for  painting,  and  cased  on  the  outside 
with  brick  or  tiles  ;  this  casing  has  been  a  good  deal  repaired,  but 
a  considerable  part  of  it  seems  to  be  original.  Opposite  to  the 
entrance  is  the  arch  of  a  small  apse  or  tribune  for  an  altar,  which 
has  been  destroyed ;  but  in  that  part  of  the  aisle  the  vault  is  earned 
considerably  higher,  as  if  for  a  baldaquin  over  the  sarcophagus. 

The  whole  of  the  exterior  is  as  plain  as  possible,  as  is  the  case 
with  all  the  ancient  churches  in  Rome.  S.  Constantia  was  conse¬ 
crated  as  a  church  by  Pope  Alexander  IV.,  and  an  altar  dedicated 
there  in  1256.  The  sarcophagus  of  the  saint  was  found  buried  in 
the  small  apse  in  which  this  altar  is  placed,  and  was  removed  to 
the  Vatican  Museum  by  Pope  Pio  VI.  in  1791,  as  recorded  on  an 
inscription  now  placed  in  the  apse  over  a  picture  representing  it. 

p  Anastasius,  xxxiv.  42.  more  probable  that  this  was  the  case, 

“i  The  Life  of  Constantine,  as  nar-  though  there  is  no  direct  testimony 
rated  by  Eusebius,  seems  to  make  it  either  way. 


150  Churches  connected  with  the  Catacombs.  [SECT. 

This  sarcophagus  is  also  ornamented  with  the  vine  and  the  vintage. 
This  church  was  restored  by  Cardinal  Sfrondati  in  1620;  some  of 
the  faded  painting  is  probably  of  his  time.  On  each  side  of  the 
doorway  on  the  exterior  is  an  arched  recess,  apparently  part  of 
the  ancient  quadri-porticus ;  there  are  also  considerable  ruins  of 
the  ancient  monastery. 

The  double  columns,  or  twin  shafts,  which  carry  the  arches  are 
distinguished  for  beauty  of  form  and  of  material.  The  shafts  are  of 
granite,  the  capitals  of  marble  ;  they  are  richly  carved,  but  quite 
consistent  with  the  time  of  Constantine,  and  there  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  they  were  taken  from  any  previous  building.  They  are 
of  the  Composite  order,  usual  at  that  period. 

The  mosaics  on  the  vaults  also  agree  perfectly  with  the  character 
of  that  age,  and  the  work  is  rather  rude,  merely  intended  as  de¬ 
corations  to  be  seen  from  a  distance;  their  general  effect  is  har¬ 
monious  and  agreeable  :  they  form  a  regular,  methodical,  and  sym¬ 
metrical  whole.  They  are  divided  into  twelve  bays,  corresponding 
with  the  lower  columns,  which  carry  on  one  side  the  vaults  of  the 
aisles  on  which  they  are  painted,  and  on  the  other  side  the  an¬ 
cient  cupola.  The  pattern  is  different  in  each  bay;  the  scenes  of 
the  vintage,  which  were  engraved  by  Ciampini,  are  constantly  referred 
to  as  the  most  singular.  Another  is  simply  a  meandering  pattern 
of  foliage,  then  the  ploughing  of  the  land  by  oxen,  and  the  vintage 
repeated,  with  birds,  crosses,  and  other  Christian  emblems,  but  not 
prominent.  All  are  on  a  white  ground,  except  the  one  which  was 
over  the  altar  and  the  sarcophagus  of  Constantia,  or  what  may  be 
called  the  chancel ;  this  is  richer  than  the  rest,  having  a  gold 
ground.  This  church  had  originally  an  apse,  now  destroyed,  as 
has  been  said.  The  central  part  has  been  painted  only,  and  the 
present  painting  is  late  and  bad. 

Over  each  of  two  doorways  in  the  tympanum  is  also  a  mosaic 
picture  of  later  character,  probably  of  the  eighth  century.  The 
subject  of  one  is  Christ  giving  His  blessing  to  two  of  His  disciples, 
supposed  to  be  S.  Thomas  and  S.  Philip r,  with  four  lambs  at  His 
feet,  and  an  inscription,  dominvs  pacem  dat,  on  a  scroll  which  He 
gives  to  one  of  the  Apostles ;  two  streams  of  water  flow  from  the 
feet  of  Christ.  On  the  other  tympanum  Christ  is  seated  on  the 
globe,  with  a  book  in  His  left  hand,  and  giving  His  right  hand  to 
an  Apostle  under  a  part  of  His  cloak. 


r  S.  John  xiv.  27. 


XII.] 


Via  Nomentana. — .S.  Alexander. 


151 


S.  Alexander. 

According  to  the  legends  of  the  Roman  Church,  Pope  Alexander  I. 
was  martyred  a.d.  119,  by  being  torn  to  pieces  by  horses,  along  with 
Eventius,  a  priest,  and  Theodulus,  a  deacon,  on  the  Via  Nomen¬ 
tana,  seven  miles  from  Rome.  Their  scattered  limbs  were  collected 
and  interred  in  a  catacomb  near  the  same  spot,  by  Severa,  a  reli¬ 
gious  matron8.  It  has  been  remarked  that  S.  Irenseus  does  not 
mention  his  martyrdom,  but  S.  Alexander  is  reckoned  among  the 
martyrs  in  the  Canon  of  the  Mass,  and  in  the  Sacramentary  of 
S.  Gregory  the  Great,  in  the  ancient  Calendar  of  Fronto,  and  in 
other  Martyrologies,  with  his  two  companions.  Their  bodies  are 
said  to  have  been  translated  to  the  Dominican  church  of  S.  Sabina, 
but  according  to  the  Roman  Church  the  place  where  the  body  of 
a  martyr  has  once  lain  is  always  considered  sacred. 

This  site  had  long  been  forgotten,  until  in  1853,  a  learned  English 
botanist  was  much  surprised  to  see  growing  on  the  grass-land  of  the 
Campagna  a  plant  which  was  considered  as  peculiar  to  old  lime  or 
ruins.  He  forwarded  specimens  to  the  Linnaean  Society  of  London, 
who  sent  out  a  commission  to  investigate  the  facts,  and  these  gentle¬ 
men  by  a  little  digging  soon  came  upon  the  ruins.  The  discovery 
excited  great  attention,  and  Cavaliere  de  Rossi  identified  the  spot. 
Pio  IX.  ordered  the  space  to  be  enclosed  with  a  substantial  wall 
sufficient  to  protect  these  remains  if  they  had  been  of  gold,  and 
began  to  build  an  enormous  cathedral  over  them,  proposing  to 
retain  the  old  church  as  a  crypt  to  the  new  one.  The  church  was 
never  completed,  and  probably  now  never  will  be,  as  it  is  not 
wanted.  The  discovery  of  the  site  made  a  great  sensation  at  the 
time,  but  the  matter  is  now  almost  forgotten1. 

These  remains  consist  of  the  mosaic  pavement  and  the  lowrer  part 
of  the  walls  of  the  original  small  burial-chapel  in  a  tolerably  perfect 
state,  with  the  doorway  leading  to  the  Catacombs,  the  whole  of  the 
second  century.  By  the  side  of  this,  a  large  church,  consisting  of 
nave,  aisles  and  chapels,  was  built  during  or  soon  after  the  time  of 
Constantine,  and  this  has  been  partially  excavated.  The  arches  are 
formed  of  the  usual  long  thin  bricks  of  that  period.  On  the  floor  of 
the  central  part,  which  may  be  nave  or  chancel,  is  a  portion  of  the 
pavement  of  the  sacrarium,  with  an  apsidal  termination,  and  the 
marks  of  the  place  of  two  marble  screens  of  enclosure  of  the  choir 

8  “ Qui  etiam  sepultus  est  Via  Nu-  Cardinal  Vicar,  or  his  officers;  the 
mentana,  ubi  decollatus  est,  ab  urbe  place  is  quite  inaccessible  without  the 
Roma  non  longe,  milliario  vii.,”  &c.  key,  which  must  be  bespoken  the  day 
(Anastasius,  vii.  7. )  before  it  is  wanted. 

*  The  key  is  kept  in  Rome  by  the 


152 


Churches  connected  with  the  Catacombs.  [sect. 


or  sacrarium  behind  the  altar,  which  is  valuable  as  shewing  the 
arrangement  of  that  period  ;  the  only  part  perfect  is  the  apse  behind 
the  altar.  At  the  opposite  end  there  appears  to  have  been  a  second 
apse  and  a  second  altar ;  but  this  has  been  so  much  tampered  with, 
that  it  is  impossible  to  see  how  much  it  is  original.  There  is  the 
marble  grating  of  the  confessio,  but  whether  in  its  original  place 
or  not  cannot  be  seen.  The  inscription  upon  it  seems  to  be  of  the 
fourth  century  *. 

This  church  is  surrounded  by  a  number  of  small  burial-chapels 
and  long  narrow  passages,  with  brick  arches  for  tombs,  like  the 
sepulchral  recesses  in  medieval  churches,  on  both  sides  of  the  pas¬ 
sages,  giving  at  first  sight  the  idea  of  their  being  the  tops  of  a  long 
row  of  arches  of  an  aisle,  and  that  the  earth  has  only  been  dug  out 
to  the  level  of  the  springing.  This  is,  however,  clearly  not  the  case ; 
the  floor  of  the  passages  was  no  lower  than  it  now  is,  and  the  vaults 
above,  which  covered  them  in,  have  been  destroyed  ;  they  must 
have  formed  the  upper  tier  of  a  catacomb,  almost  on  a  level  with 
the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  they  appear  to  be,  from  the  character 
of  the  work,  of  the  fourth  or  fifth  century. 

Before  the  time  of  Constantine,  and  before  the  large  church  or 
these  chapels  and  passages  were  built,  the  original  small  chapel  had 
been  added  to,  by  building  a  porch  on  the  side  of  it,  of  which  the 
four  brick  piers  of  the  vault  remain,  with  the  masonry  on  the  right- 
hand  side,  consisting  of  large  square  blocks  of  stone,  like  all  the 
early  constructions  in  Rome ;  and  this  stone  wall  continues  on  the 
right-hand  side  of  the  portico  in  front  of  the  porch,  of  which  the  bases 
of  the  two  columns  remain  in  situ.  The  wall  on  the  left-hand  side 
has  been  destroyed  or  concealed  by  the  modern  wall  of  Pio  IX. ;  but 
here  is  placed  a  fine  marble  sarcophagus,  with  a  good  head  in  the 
centre,  and  two  figures,  with  torch  reversed  and  extinguished,  at  the 
corners,  shewing  that  it  was  not  Christian. 

Behind  this  are  the  ruins  of  a  small  cubiculum ,  with  three  arco- 
solia,  the  door  occupying  the  fourth  side,  evidently  a  burying-place 


*  The  part  remaining  of  the  inscrip¬ 
tion  on  the  front  of  the  altar  is  as 
follows  : — 

.  .  .  .  ET  ALEXANDRO  DEDICATVS 
VOTO  POSVIT  DEDICANTE  AEPISCOPO 
VRS. 

This  altar  is  considered  as  of  import¬ 
ance  by  ecclesiologists,  as  an  early 
example  of  the  table  -  form  supported 
on  four  legs  or  shafts.  Two  of  the 
bases  of  the  three  remain  in  their  ori¬ 


ginal  places,  and  bear  these  inscrip¬ 
tions  : — 

IVNIA  SABINA  C.  F.  EIVS  FECERVNT. 

....  SANCTORVM  ORNAVIT. 

Under  the  altar  is  a  shallow  grave 
lined  with  marble,  in  which,  no  doubt, 
the  relics  of  S.  Alexander  were  placed, 
until  they  were  removed  to  S.  Sabina. 
The  front  of  the  altar  was  panelled  or 
channelled,  and  there  was  a  square  hole 
in  the  centre  for  viewing  the  relics,  or 
some  say,  for  placing  a  cloth  over  them. 


XII.] 


Via  Nomentana. — S.  Alexander. 


153 


for  a  small  family ;  this  seems  to  be  of  the  third  or  fourth  century. 
At  the  end  of  the  large  church  of  Constantine,  to  the  left  of  the 
entrance,  is  another  family  burial-chapel  of  larger  dimensions,  with 
an  apse,  and  with  the  entrance  doorway  at  the  opposite  end,  raised 
a  step  or  two  above  the  level  of  the  church,  but  distinct  from  it ;  this 
appears  to  be  of  the  fifth  or  sixth  century,  and  is  very  rude  work. 
Part  of  the  stone  steps  descending  into  the  church  are  ancient,  but 
the  lower  part  has  been  widened  to  more  than  double  the  original 
width.  The  curved  line  of  the  pavement  from  the  foot  of  the  ori¬ 
ginal  steps  to  the  original  chapel  has  been  suffered  to  remain,  passing 
round  the  apse  of  the  choir  of  the  church  of  Constantine,  and  in¬ 
cluded  in  the  aisle.  Several  tombs  have  the  names  of  consuls  upon 
them,  which  give  their  dates. 

The  character  of  the  pavements,  and  of  such  other  decorated 
portions  as  exist,  is  that  which  marks  works  of  the  fifth  century  u  : 
it  was  therefore  probably  at  that  period  that  the  originally  simple 
excavation  where  the  body  of  S.  Alexander  was  laid  in  the  second 
century,  was  brought  into  the  form  in  which  we  see  it.  The  building 
was  evidently  partly  above  and  partly  below  the  level  of  the  ground, 
the  original  place  of  interment  having  been  a  low  vault,  and  the 
same  process  of  cutting  away  the  superincumbent  earth  and  erect¬ 
ing  a  church  having  been  gone  through  here  as  at  S.  Agnes  and 
S.  Lorenzo  fuori  le  Mura,  but  on  a  much  humbler  scale. 

From  the  time  that  the  body  of  S.  Alexander  was  removed  from 
hence x,  the  building  was  no  doubt  neglected,  and  at  last  fell  into 
total  ruin.  It  became  filled  in  with  earth,  and  lost  sight  of,  until 
excavations  made  by  Sig.  Guidi,  and  commenced  in  1854,  brought 
these  interesting  remains  to  light. 


u  A  sepulchral  stone  found  there  bears 
the  date  of  the  consulate  of  Postu- 
mius  (Rufus  Prsetextatus  Postumianus, 
a.d.  448),  and  another  that  of  Flavius 
Maburtius  (Mavortius,  a.d.  527).  These 
probably  point  to  the  period  when  this 
cemetery,  about  seven  miles  from  Rome, 
was  specially  honoured,  and  interment 
in  it  desired. 


x  According  to  some  authorities,  it 
was  removed  to  S.  Sabina  by  Pope 
Celestinus  in  the  fifth  century.  Other 
churches  at  Rome  have,  however, 
claimed  the  honour  of  possessing  it, 
while  some  French  writers  state  that 
it  was  given  by  Leo  III.  to  Charle¬ 
magne. 


154 


Churches  connected  with  the  Catacombs.  [sect. 


VIA  TIBURTINA. 


S.  Lorenzo  fuori  le  Mura. 

The  basilica  of  S.  Lorenzo  beyond  the  Walls  is  said  to  have  been 
originally  one  of  the  usual  burial -chapels  at  the  entrance  of  the 
catacomb  of  S.  Cyriaca,  a  Roman  matron,  who  had  interred  the  body 
of  S.  Laurentius,  or  Laurence,  over  the  family  catacomb  or  crypt  in  the 
sandpit,  in  the  meadow  ofVeranus.  On  this  site  Constantine  is  said 
to  have  built  a  church  y :  it  is  more  probable,  from  his  usual  practice, 
that  he  endowed  a  chapter  with  large  landed  estates,  which  enabled 
them  afterwards  to  build  a  church  themselves.  It  is  further  stated  to 
have  been  enlarged  in  the  fifth  century,  by  the  Empress  Galla 
Placidia z,  daughter  of  Theodosius,  at  the  instigation  of  Pope  Leo  I. 
It  is  also  probable  that  the  original  small  church  was  rebuilt  at  this 
time  by  the  chapter,  assisted  by  the  donations  from  the  Empress 
and  others.  The  only  portions  remaining  of  those  early  periods  are 
the  antique  columns.  The  earliest  part  of  the  building  to  which  we 
can  assign  any  certain  date  is  the  arch  of  triumph,  with  the  mosaics, 
which  at  present  faces  the  altar  instead  of  being  behind  it  or  over  it, 
as  usual.  This  is  part  of  the  church  as  rebuilt  by  Pope  Pelagius  II., 
a.d.  590. 

There  were  originally  two  churches,  which  were  made  into  one  by 
Hadrian  I.,  a.d.  780 a;  the  two  apses  are  said  to  have  been  back  to 
back  b,  both  of  which  were  removed,  and  the  one  continued  as  a  long 


y  “  Constantinus  .  .  .  fecit  basilicam 
B.  Laurentio  ...  in  agrum  Veranum, 
supra  arenarium  cryptae.”  (Anastasius, 
xxxiv.  43.) 

z  The  fact  that  Galla  Placidia  did 
contribute  largely  to  the  rebuilding  is 
confirmed  by  the  following  inscrip¬ 
tion  : — 

GAVDET  PONTIFICIS  STVDIO  SPLEN- 
DERE  LEONIS 

PLACIDIAE  PIA  MENS  OPERIS  DECVS 
OMNE  PATER 

DEMOVIT  DOMINVS  TENEBRAS  VT  LVCE 
CREATA 

HIS  QVONDAM  LATEBRIS  SIC  MODO 
FVLGOR  INEST 

ANGVSTOS  ADITVS  VENERABILE  CORPVS 
HABEBAT 

HVC  VBI  NVNC  POPVLVM  LARGIOR 
AVRA  CAPIT 

ERVTA  PLANICIES  PATVIT  SVB  MONTE 
RECISA 

ESTQVE  REMOTA  GRAVI  MOLE  RVINA 
MINAX. 

(Gruter,  Inscr.  Ant.,  p.  MCLXXin., 
No.  1.) 


a  “  Item  hie  idem  almificus  praesul 
monasterium  S.  Laurentii,  quod  in  Pa- 
latinis  in  desertis  reperit,  noviter  re- 
staurans,  atque  in  omnibus  ditans,  con- 
junxit  cum  alio  monasterio  juxta  ipsum 
posito,  scilicet  S.  Stephani,  quod  cogno- 
minatur  Baganda  ;  et  ordinavit  mona- 
chos,  et  constituit  ut  in  titulo  B.  Marci 
pontificis  atque  confessoris  officio  fun- 
gerentur,”&c.  (Anastasius,  xcvii.  340.) 

b  This  is  the  same  plan  as  the  building 
called  the  temple  of  Venus  and  Roma, 
and  the  idea  was  probably  taken  from  it. 
The  fact  of  two  churches  having  been 
built  in  the  fifth  or  sixth  century,  with 
their  altars  turned  in  exactly  opposite 
directions,  the  same  reredos  wall  sepa¬ 
rating  the  two  altars,  is  a  curious  in¬ 
stance  of  the  indifference  to  orientation 
at  that  period ;  but  probably  the  altar 
which  faced  to  the  west  was  so  arranged 
that  the  priest  stood  behind  it,  and 
looked  himself  to  the  rising  sun  when 
celebratingthe  sacred  mysteries,  although 
the  congregation  looked  to  the  west. 


XII.]  Via  Tiburtina. — S.  Lorenzo  beyond  the  Walls. 


155 


nave  to  the  arch  of  triumph  of  the  other,  which  was  thus  reversed. 
The  older  church,  now  the  choir,  is  built  of  very  fine  antique  columns 
on  bases  of  the  eighth  century,  carved  with  the  cross  and  Alpha  and 
Omega ;  they  carry  an  antique  frieze,  and  on  this  a  triforium  gallery. 
The  plan  is  nearly  identical  with  that  of  S.  Agnes ;  the  lower  columns 
have  an  entablature  only,  with  the  triforium  gallery  above,  which 
has  arches  and  is  an  important  part  of  the  structure,  with  windows 
at  the  back.  The  floor  of  the  choir  has  been  very  much  raised  in 
the  thirteenth  century,  and  a  mosaic  pavement  of  Opus  Alexandrinum 
put  upon  it.  This  floor  cuts  off"  about  a  third  part  of  the  original 
height  of  the  columns,  which  are  fully  seen  in  the  aisles  only. 

During  the  restorations  of  1864  and  1865,  the  ancient  crypt  has 
been  entirely  removed,  and  replaced  by  a  handsome  modern  crypt 
of  white  marble.  At  the  end  behind  the  altar  is  a  transverse  pas¬ 
sage  forming  a  square  east  end  to  the  present  church,  which  was  the 
vestibule  or  narthex  of  the  original  church.  The  clerestory  and  roof 
are  modern ;  the  ambo  for  the  Epistle,  on  the  left  hand,  is  formed 
partly  of  antique  marble,  and  partly  of  the  two  ambones  of  the  thir¬ 
teenth  century  placed  one  upon  the  other.  On  the  right  is  a  fine 
ambo  for  the  Gospel,  ornamented  with  slabs  of  porphyry  and  ser¬ 
pentine,  with  borders  of  ribbon  mosaic,  and  formed  of  antique  marble 
with  carving  on  it;  at  the  foot  is  an  eagle  carrying  a  hare.  The 
paschal  candlestick  is  of  marble  with  spiral  fluting  and  enamelled 
in  the  ribbon  mosaic,  carried  upon  two  lions  couchant ;  it  is  work 
of  the  thirteenth  century.  The  altar  stands  in  the  middle  of  the 
choir  under  a  handsome  baldaquino  of  classical  type,  on  which  is 
an  inscription  recording  that  it  was  made  in  1148°,  and  behind 
the  altar  is  the  papal  chair  of  marble  encrusted  with  slabs  of 
porphyry  and  serpentine  with  mosaic  ribbon  borders;  it  bears  the 
date  of  1254,  and  is  carried  on  two  lions  couchant.  A  marble 
slab  on  which  the  body  of  S.  Laurence  is  said  to  have  been  placed 
after  his  martyrdom,  is  protected  by  an  iron  grille  of  the  thirteenth 
century. 

The  Nave  was  originally  called  S.  Stephen’s;  it  is  on  the  basilican 
plan,  and  has  twenty-two  antique  columns  with  Ionic  capitals,  but 
not  all  alike.  They  have  evidently  come  from  two  different  edifices. 


c  The  inscription  is, — 

JOHS  .  PETRVS  .  ANGELO  .  ET  JOSEF. 
FILII  .  PAVLI  .  MARMOR.  HVIVS  .  OPS. 
MAGISTRI  .  FECERVNT. 


And  on  the  opposite  side, — 

►J*  JOHS.  PETRVS  .  ANGELVS  .  ET  . 
SASSO  .  FILII  .  PAVLI  .  MARMOR  .  HVI. 
OPIS.  MAGISTRI  .  FECER.  >J<ANN.  D. 
M.C.VIII.  .  EGO  .  HVGO  .  HVMILIS 
ABBAS  .  HOC  .  OPVS  .  FIERI  .  FECI. 


156 


Churches  connected  with  the  Catacombs.  [SECT. 


In  the  centre  of  the  floor  of  the  nave  is  a  tomb  in  mosaic  of  two 
warriors'1  of  the  time  of  Honorius  III.,  c.  a.d.  1220,  who  must  have 
made  considerable  repairs,  if  he  did  not  rebuild  the  church.  Its 
rebuilding  is  mentioned  by  Ciaconius  among  the  works  of  Hono¬ 
rius  III.,  who,  he  says,  repaired  the  church  and  the  monastery ; 
but  it  is  well  known  that  repaired  is  a  very  vague  term  in  medieval 
registers.  It  often  means  almost  an  entire  rebuilding. 

The  two  churches  combined  in  one  are  not  exactly  in  a  line,  as 
may  be  seen  distinctly  on  the  exterior  of  the  north  side.  The  walls 
of  the  aisles  are  chiefly  of  the  thirteenth  century ;  the  construction 
agreeing  with  that  of  the  end  walls  of  the  portico,  which  is  evidently 
of  that  period.  The  walls  of  the  clerestory  on  both  sides  are  of  brick, 
also  of  the  thirteenth ;  some  of  the  original  windows  remain,  with  the 
peculiar  kind  of  tracery,  which  was  the  origin  of  plate-tracery,  a  plate 
of  marble  pierced  with  small  round  holes  for  the  glass,  or,  as  it  is  said 
originally  to  have  been,  the  thinner  layers  of  translucent  marble,  the 
same  as  at  the  Tre  Fontane,  and  other  original  windows  of  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries,  though  these  are  now  becoming  rare.  At 
S.  Lorenzo,  they  are  visible  on  the  outside;  but  during  the  recent 
restorations  in  1864,  under  the  auspices  of  the  munificent  Pio  IX., 
who  has  the  misfortune  to  employ  very  ignorant  architects,  these 
valuable  original  windows  have  all  been  very  ingeniously  blocked  up, 
or  suffered  to  remain  so.  Considering  that  no  expense  is  spared,  it 
is  to  be  regretted  that  the  persons  employed  should  be  so  much 
behind  the  rest  of  Europe  in  archaeological  knowledge  and  taste. 

The  Portico  is  of  classical  character,  and  has  six  columns  with 
Ionic  capitals ;  four  of  these  columns  have  twisted  fluting,  of  a  kind 
very  usual  in  Rome  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  as  in  the 
porch  of  S.  Sabina  and  the  tomb  of  Pope  Honorius  III.  The  cornice 
has  pattern  mosaics  of  the  thirteenth,  and  over  them  shallow  carving 
in  white  marble,  very  much  in  the  same  style  as  that  which  prevailed 
in  the  seventh,  eighth,  and  ninth  centuries,  and  which  was  con¬ 
tinued  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth,  as  on  the  wells  in  the  cloisters 
at  the  Lateran,  and  at  S.  John’s,  near  the  Porta  Latina,  the  doorway 
at  S.  Pudentiana,  and  in  the  chapel  of  S.  Zeno  in  S.  Prassede.  At 
S.  Lorenzo,  the  portico,  with  these  shallow  carvings,  is  without 
doubt  of  the  time  of  Honorius  III.,  and  has  under  it  the  curious 
paintings  relating  to  events  of  that  period.  They  represent  the 
legends  of  S.  Stephen  and  S.  Laurence,  and  the  coronation  of  Pierre 

d  It  is  most  probable  that  these  two  all  the  necessary  funds,  although  the 
warriors  buried  in  the  nave  of  the  church  Pope  was  given  the  credit  of  the  work 
were  great  benefactors,  or  found  nearly  done  in  his  time. 


XII.]  Via  Tiburtina. — S.  Lorenzo  beyond  the  Walls. 


IS  7 


de  Courtenay,  Count  of  Auxerre,  who  was  crowned  here  as  Em¬ 
peror  of  the  East  in  1217;  but  the  curious  and  valuable  original 
fresco  paintings  have  unfortunately  been  restored.  The  original  out¬ 
lines  are  however  preserved,  and  the  paintings  carefully  copied. 
They  afford  curious  information  as  to  the  belief  at  that  period  of 
the  legends  of  the  saints. 

They  are  arranged  in  seven  pictures  : — 

1.  A  holy  Hermit  sees  four  Demons  pass  with  a  great  noise  near 
his  hermitage,  and  asks  them  where  are  they  going. 

2.  The  body  of  the  wicked  Saxon  Count  Henry,  who  had  given 
a  vase  to  the  church  of  S.  Lorenzo  e.  The  four  Demons  discuss  with 
the  guardian  Angel  of  the  said  Count  who  his  soul  is  to  belong  to. 
The  Demons  carry  the  book  in  which  are  written  all  his  bad  actions, 
with  this  title,  opera  mala  qve  fecit  ;  and  the  Angel  carries  the 
book  of  his  good  actions,  with  the  title,  opera  bona  qve  fecit. 
The  Priest  or  Abbot  stands  behind  the  body,  with  this  writing, 
reqviescat  in  pace  :  amen. 

3.  The  Angel  and  the  Demons  put  the  books  in  a  scale.  The  book 
of  the  bad  actions  weighs  the  heaviest ;  but,  to  the  mortification  of 
the  Demons,  S.  Lorenzo  runs  and  throws  into  the  scale  with  the 
good  actions  the  vase  which  the  deceased  had  given  him,  and  thus 
the  soul  of  Count  Henry  can  go  to  Paradise  amid  the  rage  of  the 
Demons. 

4.  Presentation  of  the  vase  which  the  Count  Henry  had  offered 
on  the  altar  of  S.  Laurence. 

5.  The  Greeks  sent  to  Rome  to  receive  the  body  of  S.  Laurence 
for  that  of  S.  Stephen,  which  they  had  brought  to  the  basilica  of 
the  former,  wishing  to  lay  hands  upon  the  tomb  of  S.  Laurence,  fall 
to  the  earth  nearly  dead f. 

6.  Burial  of  the  body  of  S.  Laurence  after  his  martyrdom,  and 
the  priest,  Justin,  gives  the  communion  to  S.  Cyriaca  and  other 
Christians. 

7.  A  soul  clings  to  the  foot  of  S.  Michael  at  the  moment  that  the 
balance,  with  the  book  of  wicked  actions,  flies  up  under  the  weight 
of  a  Demon. 

This  porch  was  restored  by  Sixtus  IV.  (1471 — 1484),  whose  arms 
were  placed  on  the  upper  part,  before  the  recent  lamentable  works 
were  executed  at  the  expense  of  Pio  IX.  Some  fine  sarcophagi 
have  been  placed  in  the  porch. 

Over  the  portico  is  a  large  painting  on  a  gold  ground,  in  imitation 

e  He  died  in  the  time  of  Pope  Alex-  f  According  to  the  legend,  they  died 
ander  II.,  a.d.  1065.  within  the  space  of  ten  days. 


15B 


Churches  connected  with  the  Catacombs.  [SECT. 


of  the  style  of  the  old  mosaics,  with  figures  of  Pelagius  II.,  the  Em¬ 
peror  Constantine,  Honorius  III.,  and  Pio  IX.  (each  of  the  two 
latter  with  a  model  of  the  church  in  his  hand,  one  as  the  founder, 
the  other  as  the  restorer ),  Xistus  III.,  and  Hadrian  I.  Over  these 
figures  are  heads  in  niches  of  S.  Cyriaca,  S.  Hippolytus,  S.  Stephanus, 
S.  Laurentius,  S.  Justinianus,  S.  Cyrilla. 

Pope  Hilary,  a.d.  461 — 467,  made  a  monastery  here;  Hadrian  I., 
a.d.  772,  added  a  staircase  or  steps  from  the  church  to  the  catacombs 
of  S.  Cyriaca,  and  did  some  other  works  here.  There  are  portions  of 
the  outer  walls  of  the  monastery  which  are  of  great  antiquity  ;  the  in¬ 
terior  is  more  modern,  and  is  surrounded  by  a  cloister  of  two  stories, 
in  the  style  of  the  twelfth  century,  which  continued  in  Rome  during 
the  thirteenth  with  little  change.  The  lower  story  has  coupled  shafts 
of  white  marble,  alternately  with  a  single  one.  The  upper  story,  now 
walled  up,  has  single  shafts  only ;  there  are  flat  pilaster  buttresses  and 
a  cornice  or  corbel-table  of  brick  with  stone  or  marble  corbels.  The 
same  cornice  is  repeated  on  the  Campanile,  which  is  built  very  regu¬ 
larly  of  flat  bricks,  and  the  interior  wall  of  the  cloister  exactly  corre¬ 
sponds  with  it.  The  outer  wall  of  the  cloister  has  the  lower  part  of 
quite  a  different  construction ;  this  is  more  visible  on  the  east  side 
from  the  cemetery.  The  old  wall  is  of  rough  stone,  and  has  two  small 
ancient  windows  in  it ;  the  upper  part  is  of  brick,  the  same  as  the  inner 
wall.  The  lower  part  is  probably  of  the  time  of  Hadrian  I. ;  the  upper 
part  and  the  main  construction  belong  to  that  of  Honorius  III. 

In  this  cloister  a  number  of  ancient  fragments  of  various  kinds 
are  preserved,  including  tombstones  from  the  Catacombs,  portions  of 
sarcophagi  mixed  up  with  work  of  later  periods,  including  several 
brought  from  the  church  during  the  recent  restorations .  Among 
these  was  (in  1865)  a  very  beautiful  cornice  of  a  fine  doorway  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  removed  from  the  south  side  of  the  chancel, 
the  space  which  it  occupied  being  now  walled  up  among  the  recent 
improvements ;  also  the  bases  of  the  columns  of  the  arcade  with  which 
the  porch  in  front  of  this  doorway  was  ornamented,  bases  which  are 
enamelled  with  the  ribbon  mosaics  in  the  style  of  the  Cosmati. 
There  were  other  portions  of  the  same  beautiful  doorway  and  porch, 
irreparably  destroyed  in  the  year  1864.  There  is  little  doubt,  from 
a  comparison  of  dates,  that  this  beautiful  porch  was  the  work  of  the 
celebrated  Cosmati  family,  and  it  was  the  only  porch  that  they  built. 

The  doorway  on  the  north  side  of  the  nave  is  also  walled  up,  so 
that  the  only  entrance  is  now  from  the  west  end ;  and  the  clergy 
living  in  the  convent,  which  is  at  the  south-east  corner  of  the  church, 
have  to  walk  the  whole  length  of  the  building  in  all  weathers  to  go 


XII.]  Via  Tiburtina. — S.  Lorenzo  beyond  the  Walls.  159 


in  at  the  west  end.  In  the  dark  ages,  a  covered  way  was  always 
provided  from  the  dormitory  to  the  church ;  but  apparently  modern 
Roman  architects  do  not  consider  midnight  services  or  numerous 
services  to  be  required  in  these  days,  and  on  the  few  occasions  when 
S.  Lorenzo  is  used  the  clergy  may  as  well  walk  through  the  rain,  or 
the  cold  wind,  which  is  frequent  enough  there.  In  the  dark  ages, 
the  advisers  of  the  Popes  were  more  considerate  both  of  the  clergy 
and  of  the  people.  Hadrian  I.  made  what  was  called  a  porticus g, 
from  the  gate  of  the  city  to  the  entrance  of  this  church  h. 

The  present  burial-ground  of  Rome  is  attached  to  it ;  the  Campo- 
santo  is  very  extensive,  having  been  several  times  enlarged  both  in 
length  and  width.  A  great  part  of  the  ground  is  occupied  by  graves, 
with  head-stones,  or  crosses  either  of  wood  or  stone,  according  to  the 
fashion  now  usual  in  other  parts  of  Europe ;  but  a  portion  near  the 
entrance,  surrounded  by  a  modern  cloister,  contains  384  pits,  in 
which  the  common  people  were  buried  who  were  too  poor  to  have 
a  piece  of  ground  purchased  in  perpetuity  for  them 


k  “Imo  et  porticum,  qui  ducit  ad 
S.  Laurentium  foris  murum,  a  porta 
usque  in  eamdem  basilicam,  a  novo  con- 
struxit.”  (Anastasius  in  Hadriano  I., 
xcvii.  342.) 

The  word  porticus  is  one  that  is  used 
in  different  senses  in  medieval  Latin, 
and  apparently  in  classical  Latin  also. 
Originally  it  signified  what  we  still 
call  a  portico,  the  colonnade  outside  of 
a  temple  ;  but  it  also  signified  an  arcade, 
as  in  the  instance  of  the  porticus  to  the 
Thermae  ofCaracalla,  which  was  finished 
by  his  successor,  Heliogabalus,  and 
the  ruins  of  which  remain.  This  was 
clearly  an  arcade,  not  a  colonnade. 
The  porticus  built  by  Nero  after  the 
fire  in  front  of  the  houses  was  also  an 
arcade,  of  which  there  are  a  few  re¬ 
mains.  When  in  the  early  Christian 
churches  the  wall  was  put  outside  the 


colonnade  or  arcade  instead  of  inside, 
the  name  of  porticus  was  still  retained, 
and  thus  became  applied  to  the  aisles 
of  the  church. 

h  For  further  information  respecting 
this  church,  see  a  pamphlet  printed  at 
Bologna  in  1861,  under  the  title  of 
La  Basilica  di  S.  Lorenzo  fuor  delle 
mura  illustrata  per  'cura  del  M.  B.  P. 
Salvatore  da  Morrovalle,  cappucino  .  .  . 
con  appendice  del  Sig.  avv.  Tito  Bollici ; 
and  F.  Gori,  Della  Porta  e  Basilica  di 
S.  Lorenzo,  delle  Ccttacombe  di  Sa.  Ciriaca, 
della  Basilica  di  S.  Stefano  Martire  Ro¬ 
mano,  delle  Catacombe  di  S.  Lppolito  sol- 
dato,  0  ad  Nymphos,  e  del  Campo-santo 
di  Roma,  &c.  8vo.,  1862. 

*  This  practice  is  now  discontinued, 
but  only  within  a  very  few  years,  since 
i860. 


i6o 


Churches  connected  with  the  Catacombs.  [sect.  xii. 


VIA  LATINA. 

Church  of  S.  Stephen,  the  Deacon. 

S.  Stephen  was  bishop  of  Rome  from  a.d.  253 — 257,  according 
to  some  authorities,  and  from  258 — 260,  according  to  others3';  if 
we  trust  to  Eusebius,  the  latter  must  be  correct,  as  the  saint  took 
occasional  refuge  in  the  Catacombs  during  the  seventh  persecution, 
which  lasted  from  256 — 259,  where  he  preached,  and  baptized 
108  persons  on  one  day,  and  60  on  another.  The  Emperor  Vale¬ 
rian  ordered  him  to  be  taken  prisoner  and  brought  to  the  temple 
of  Mars.  He  refused  to  sacrifice  to  the  idol,  and  took  refuge  again 
in  a  catacomb ;  but  soldiers  were  sent  after  him,  and  found  him 
officiating  at  the  altar  in  the  crypt  of  Lucilla  or  Lucina.  As  he 
refused  to  discontinue  the  service,  they  beheaded  him  there  on  his 
own  seat,  which  was  buried  with  him  in  the  same  crypt. 

The  church  of  S.  Stephen,  on  the  Via  Latina,  near  the  celebrated 
painted  tombs  about  four  miles  from  Rome,  was  founded  in  honour 
of  this  saint  in  the  time  of  S.  Leo  I.,  a.d.  440 — 461,  by  the  maiden 
consecrated  to  God,  Demetria,  in  her  meadow,  over  her  catacomb  \ 
The  remains  of  it  were  excavated  and  surrounded  by  a  wall  under 
Pio  IX.  The  plan  is  clearly  developed,  the  bases  of  columns 
are  left  in  situ ,  and  the  columns  themselves,  with  some  of  their 
capitals,  are  collected  at  one  end  within  the  wall.  These  evidently 
belong  to  a  fabric  of  an  earlier  date  than  the  fifth  century ;  and 
the  whole  church  has  clearly  been  made  out  of  some  building  pre¬ 
viously  existing,  either  the  house  of  Demetria,  or  one  of  the  chapels 
usual  at  the  entrance  of  a  catacomb,  or  a  pagan  temple.  On 
the  north  side,  and  within  the  modern  wall,  but  parallel  to  it,  is 
the  springing  of  the  vault  of  a  passage ;  and  as  this  is  nearly  level 
with  the  soil,  the  passage  itself  must  have  been  below  that  level, 
like  the  passage  to  a  catacomb.  The  plan  of  the  church  is  that 
of  a  basilica  with  an  apse,  which  looks  later  than  the  rest  of  the 
building;  and  on  one  side  of  the  apse  is  a  small  baptistery,  with 
a  well  in  it ;  on  the  other  side,  the  sacristy.  At  the  west  end  was 
a  portico,  as  shewn  by  the  bases  of  the  columns  ;  and  the  aisles 
were  divided  by  a  row  of  columns,  as  shewn  also  by  the  bases. 

There  are  some  small  remains  of  a  catacomb  attached  to  this 
church. 

j  See  Anastasius,  xxiv.  24;  and  the  praedio  suo.”  (Id.,  xlvii.  66.)  Ancilla 
historians  of  the  early  Church.  Dei  is  synonymous  with  sacrata  Deo , 

k  “  Hujus  (S.  Leonis)  temporibus  fe-  used  by  Gregory  of  Tours,  Lib.  de  Glor. 
cit  Demetria,  ancilla  Dei,  basilicam  S.  Confess . ,  c.  cv. 

Stephano  Via  Latina,  milliario  iv.,  in 


APPENDIX  TO  THE  CATACOMBS. 


The  earliest  accounts  of  the  Catacombs  that  we  have,  after  the 
history  of  the  martyrs  buried  in  them,  and  the  notices  of  these  in 
the  Fathers  of  the  Church  and  the  hymns  of  Prudentius,  are  the 
Itineraries  made  for  the  use  of  the  pilgrims. 

In  his  great  and  exhaustive  work,  Signor  de  Rossi,  so  frequently 
quoted  and  referred  to  in  this  chapter  on  the  Catacombs,  gives 
a  comparative  table  of  all  the  Medieval  Itineraries,  of  which  he 
finds  eight : — 

I.  He  considers  the  earliest  to  be  in  the  Notitia  Urbis  Romce ; 
but  this  is  not,  and  could  not,  be  part  of  the  original  text :  there  is 
not  a  word  on  the  subject  there,  according  to  Preller’s  text.  It 
is  an  addition  made  in  a  transcript  of  the  ninth  century  in  a  manu¬ 
script  in  the  Vatican  Library,  in  which  sixteen  cemeteries  are  enu¬ 
merated.  This  number  agrees  with  the  later  Itineraries,  and  with 
the  general  cemeteries  now  known,  but  of  course  cannot  include 
the  separate  cubicula  in  each  cemetery1.  This  first  one  he  calls 
Index  Ccemeterium. 

II.  The  second  he  calls  Indices  oliorum  qaas  collegit  Johannes 
Abbas.  This  was  formed  by  a  monk  or  monks,  who  collected  oil 
from  the  lamps  kept  burning  at  the  tombs  of  the  martyrs  on  their 
festival  days,  as  is  now  done  on  certain  occasions  in  the  restored 
catacomb  of  S.  Calixtus.  In  the  dark  periods  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
this  oil  was  supposed  to  possess  miraculous  properties.  These  two 
Itineraries  united  in  one,  were  probably  made  in  the  tenth  century, 
the  darkest  period  of  all. 


1  “I.  Cimiterium  Prisalle  {lege  Pris¬ 
cilla;)  ad  Sanctum  Silvestrum,  Via  Sa- 
laria. 

II.  Cimiterium  Jordanorum  ad  Sanc¬ 
tum  Alexandrum,  Via  Salaria. 

III.  Cimiterium  Pretextati  ad  Sanc¬ 
tum  Januarium,  Via  Appia. 

IV.  Cimiterium  Domicile  ( lege  Do- 
mitillse)  Nerei  et  Archilei  (Achillei)  ad 
sanctam  Petronillam,  Via  Ardeatina. 

V.  Cimiterium  catecumbas  ad  Sanc¬ 
tum  Sebastianum,  Via  Appia. 

VI.  Cimiterium  Calisti  ad  Sanctum 
Sistum,  Via  Appia. 

VII.  Cimiterium  ad  duos  Lauros  ad 
Sanctum  Petrum  et  Marcellinum,  Via 
Lavicana. 

VIII.  Cimiterium  Balbine  ad  Sanctum 
M  arcum  et  Marcellianum,  Via  Ardeatina. 


IX.  Cimiterium  ad  Sanctam  Colum- 
bam  ad  caput  sancti  Johannis  in  clivum 
cucumeris. 

X.  Cimiterium  ad  insulatos  ad  Sanc¬ 
tum  Felicem,  Via  Portuensi. 

XI.  Cimiterium  Pontiani  ad  Ursum 
Pileatum,  Abdon  et  Sennen,  Via  Por¬ 
tuensi. 

XII.  Cimiterium  Bassille  ad  Sanctum 
Hermen,  Via  Salaria. 

XIII.  Cimiterium  Basilei  ad  Sanc¬ 
tum  Marcum,  Via  Ardeatina. 

XIV.  Cimiterium  Commodille  ad 
Sanctum  Felicem  et  Adauctum,  Via  Os- 
tiensi. 

XV.  Cimiterium  Calepodii  ad  Sanc¬ 
tum  Calixtum,  Via  Aurelia. 

XVI.  Cimiterium  Trasonis  ad  Sanc¬ 
tum  Saturninum,  Via  Salaria.” 


M 


Appendix  to  the  Catacombs. 


162 


III.  The  third  is  from  a  manuscript  at  Saltzburg,  ex  nno  codicc 
Salisburgensi. 

IV.  The  fourth  is  taken  from  another  manuscript  also  at  Saltzburg, 
with  additions  from  a  transcript  at  Wurtzburg,  which  has  some  in¬ 
terpolations. 

V.  The  fifth  is  contained  in  the  Chronicle  of  William  of  Malmes¬ 
bury,  a  monk  of  the  twelfth  century,  and  appears  to  be  copied  from 
the  older  one  preserved  at  Einsiedlen  in  Switzerland,  or  both  from 
the  same  source.  This  text  is  much  better  preserved.  Sharpe’s 
translation  of  this  has  been  used  in  the  description  of  the  Cata¬ 
combs  at  the  head  of  each  of  the  roads. 

VI.  Topographia  Einsiedlensis.  This  has  been  several  times  re¬ 
ferred  to  and  used  in  the  present  chapter,  but  the  text  is  very 
confused ;  Signor  de  Rossi  has  been  to  Einsiedlen  to  collate  the 
manuscript. 

VII.  Excerpt  a  Topograph  ica ,  in  Vita  Hadriani  I.  (from  Anas- 
tasius). 

VIII.  Eidex  Coemeterium  e  Rbro  Mirabilium  Urbis  Romce ,  which 
Signor  de  Rossi  also  reduces  into  order  from  the  confused  original. 

All  these  are  arranged  in  a  series  of  tables,  according  to  the 
different  roads,  in  the  same  manner  as  we  have  done  in  following 
William  of  Malmesbury.  The  limits  of  this  summary  view  of  the 
subject  do  not  admit  of  discussion  as  to  each  of  the  separate 
cubicula  in  which  a  martyr  has  been  interred.  Those  who  wish  for 
further  information  on  the  subject,  will  find  it  in  the  great  work 
of  De  Rossi,  and  in  the  excellent  abridgments  of  it,  both  in  Eng¬ 
lish  and  French,  before-mentioned.  Those  who  take  the  trouble  to 
compare  them,  cannot  fail  to  observe  that  the  eminent  antiquary 
is  himself  more  careful  and  accurate'  in  his  statements  than  the 
authors  of  the  abridgments  are. 

We  have  then  nothing  until  the  sixteenth  century,  when  Onuphrius 
Panvinius  called  attention  to  the  subject  in  one  of  his  learned  works. 
He  was  contemporary  with  Bosio,  and  it  is  evident  that  his  work 
served  as  a  guide  to  that  indefatigable  explorer ;  but  whether  his 
book  was  written  before  Bosio  began,  or  immediately  afterwards,  is 
not  clear.  He  died  in  1568,  when  the  author  of  the  Roma  Sotter- 
ranea  was  a  young  man,  and  this  work  was  not  published  until  1622, 
but  that  was  long  after  his  death.  The  chapter  of  Panvinius,  “  de 
Ccemeteriis  Urbis  Romae,”  is  the  most  important  one  for  our  pur¬ 
pose  ;  this  is  given  in  our  Appendix. 

The  engravings  of  Bosio  are  of  much  importance,  and  have  pre¬ 
served  a  record  of  many  paintings  now  destroyed,  and  catacombs 


Appendix  to  the  Catacombs. 


163 

not  opened  since  his  time.  We  have  thought  it  desirable  to  give 
a  complete  list  of  them  in  this  Appendix  also. 

Bosio  was  followed  by  Aringhi,  who  republished  his  plates  with 
the  letter-press  in  Latin  and  some  additions.  These  have  been  col¬ 
lated,  and  an  account  of  them  follows  the  list  of  his  predecessor’s 
plates. 

The  keeper  of  the  Catacombs  then  became  one  of  the  officials 
of  the  Pontifical  Government,  and  each  succeeding  holder  of  this 
office  has  in  general  left  some  record  of  what  was  found  in  his  time. 
The  opinions  and  conjectures  of  Panvinius,  especially  the  exclusively 
Christian  character  of  the  Catacombs,  became  established  as  the 
rule  of  the  office,  and  are  called  “  the  Roman  traditions  they  were, 
and  are  still  followed  by  the  successive  writers  as  a  matter  of  course. 

Boldetti,  who  was  one  of  the  predecessors  of  Signor  de  Rossi  in  this 
office  of  Superintendent  of  the  Catacombs  for  the  Pontifical  Govern¬ 
ment,  and  who  also  published  a  valuable  work  on  the  subject1",  could 
not  do  otherwise.  He  gives  a  catalogue  of  Pagan  inscriptions  found  in 
the  Catacombs  during  his  time,  beginning  with  one  of  the  Emperc  r 
Marcus  Aurelius  Pius,  discovered  in  the  catacomb  of  S.  Hippolytus. 
In  that  of  S.  Cyriaca  he  found  six  Pagan  inscriptions,  beginning 
with  the  usual  invocation  to  the  gods,  d.  m.  (Diis  Manibus),  and  in 
some  cases  the  words  in  full ;  another  in  the  catacomb  of  Gordianus 
and  Epimachus  on  the  Via  Latina,  two  in  that  of  Priscilla  with  the 
d.  m.,  two  others  in  that  of  Priscilla,  and  seventeen  in  that  of  Calixtus 
and  Praetextatus,  four  in  that  of  Pontianus,  four  in  that  of  S.  Agnes, 
three  in  that  of  Lucina.  In  his  tenth  chapter  he  gives  a  list  of 
other  Pagan  inscriptions  with  Christian  ones  at  the  back,  and  in  his 
eleventh  chapter  some  with  Christian  symbols,  the  palm-leaf,  the  dove, 
the  monogram  of  Christ,  together  with  the  letters  d.  m.  s.  (Diis  Mani¬ 
bus  Sacrum),  and  others  with  d.  m.  only,  which  he  explains  as  Deo 
Magno.  He  also  published  an  inscription  discovered  in  the  catacomb 
of  S.  Agnes,  with  the  dedication  to  Eternal  Sleep  : — - 

SOMNO  HETERNALI 

AVRELIVS  GEMELLVS  QVI  BIXIT  AN.  III. 

In  his  twelfth  chapter  he  describes  the  Pagan  symbols  found  on 
sarcophagi,  as  that  of  Aurelia  Agapetilla,  discovered  in  the  catacomb  of 
S.  Agnes,  with  bas-reliefs  of  Venus  Libitina  or  Aphrodites,  Ceres  and 
Oceanus.  He  cites  examples  of  the  union  of  the  sacred  and  pro¬ 
fane  found  in  the  paintings  and  sculptures  in  the  Catacombs,  such 

ra  “  Osservazioni  sopra  i  cimiterj  de’  Roma,  mdccxx.,  folio,  tom.  ii.  pp. 
SS.  Martiri  ed  antichi  Cristiani  di  465  and  512. 

Roma  (da  Marco- Antonio  Boldetti).” 


M  2 


Appendix  to  the  Catacombs. 


164 


as  the  Good  Shepherd  with  Bacchus,  and  with  the  four  seasons ;  the 
agapes,  with  the  heads  crowned  with  laurels  as  in  profane  pictures  ; 
a  Christian  soldier,  with  the  Tesserce  Lusorice  or  Games,  &c. ;  and 
he  reproduces  a  drawing  of  a  Gorgon’s  head,  found  in  the  catacomb 
of  S.  Calixtus. 

Boldetti  was  succeeded  by  Bottari,  who  republished  Bosio’s  plates 
with  the  following  title  : — “  Sculture  e  Pitture  sagre  estratte  dai 
Cimiterj  di  Roma,  publicate  gia  dagli  Autori  della  Roma  Sotter- 
ranea,  ed  ora  nuovamente  date  in  luce  colle  Spiegazioni  per  ordine 
di  N.  S.  Clemente  XII.  felicemente  regnante.  Roma,  1727—1746, 
x 7 54.  3  vols.  folio.” 

These  are  Bosio’s  plates,  with  the  Italian  letter-press  of  Severano, 
revised  and  corrected  by  Bottari,  and  the  work  is  known  by  the 
latter  name.  There  is  a  short  preface  to  the  first  volume,  stating 
the  facts  honestly ;  other  prefaces  to  the  two  following  volumes  by 
other  hands,  contain  some  information,  and  a  few  new  inscriptions 
on  tombstones  found  during  the  time  that  the  work  was  in  progress. 

In  the  present  century,  the  office  has  been  held  by  Padre  Marchi, 
a  man  of  great  learning  and  research,  who  published  a  valuable 
workn,  one  of  the  objects  of  which,  as  stated  in  the  preface,  is  to 
correct  the  errors  of  Boldetti  and  Bottari.  These  were  his  prede¬ 
cessors  in  the  office  which  Padre  Marchi  then  held,  and  the  ideas 
of  the  nineteenth  century  were  not  the  same  as  those  of  the  seven¬ 
teenth  and  eighteenth. 

The  subjects  illustrated  are  in  the  Catacombs  of — 

S.  Agnes,  plates  1,  4,  5,  9,  10,  n,  12,  17,  19,  20. 

S.  Helena,  plates  6,  7,  8. 

S.  Pontianus,  plate  13. 

S.  Ciriaca,  plates  14,  15. 

S.  Hermes,  SS.  Marcellinus  et  Petrus  ( cubicula ),  plate  16. 

S.  Praetextatus,  plate  18. 

S.  Calepodius,  plate  21. 

Cubiculum  in  Via  Latina,  plate  22. 

During  his  time,  the  French  Government  employed  a  body  of 
artists,  under  the  direction  of  M.  Perret,  to  make  a  new  set  of  draw¬ 
ings  and  engravings  from  the  Catacombs  ;  no  expense  was  spared, 
and  a  magnificent  work  was  produced  in  six  folio  volumes.  The 
drawings  are  too  highly  coloured  and  too  much  dressed  up  ;  but  in 
many  cases  the  outlines  were  traced  from  the  originals,  as  had  pre- 

n  “Monumenti  delle  Arti  Cristiane  cura  di  G.  Marchi.  Architettura.  ”  4to., 
primitive  nella  Metropoli  del  Chris-  Roma,  1844;  tavole  xxxviii.,  F.  Fon- 
tianesimo,  disegnati  ed  illustrati  per  tana  del. 


Appendix  to  the  Catacombs. 


165 


viously  been  done  by  Seroux  d’Agincourt  in  a  few  instances,  in  his 
great  work,  “Histoire  de  l’Art  par  les  monumens.”  The  coloured 
lithographic  plates  of  Ferret  now  appear  too  theatrical,  and  do  not 
convey  the  idea  of  the  originals. 

The  Cavaliere  de  Rossi,  who  succeeded  Padre  Marchi  as  custodian 
of  the  Catacombs,  not  being  satisfied  with  the  great  French  work, 
undertook  the  task  of  producing  more  faithful  representations,  and 
his  plates  do  convey  the  idea  of  the  original  art  much  better  than 
the  French  ones ;  still,  being  made  from  modern  drawings,  although 
better  drawings,  they  cannot  be  depended  on  for  the  history  of  art. 
Nothing  but  photographs  can  give  the  exact  hand  of  the  original  artist 
so  as  to  shew  the  century  to  which  each  drawing  belongs.  There 
is  reason  to  believe  that  the  greatest  part  of  the  frescoes  were  made 
for  the  pilgrims  at  the  time  when  the  various  catacombs  were 
restored  by  the  Popes,  and  that  fully  three-fourths  of  these  paintings 
belong  to  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries. 

The  excellent  plans  of  the  Catacombs,  for  which  the  archaeologists 
are  indebted  to  the  two  brothers  De  Rossi,  are  among  the  most  im¬ 
portant  services  they  have  rendered  to  the  science.  These  give  the 
real  ancient  topography,  and  not  the  modern  only,  as  had  pre¬ 
viously  been  done.  They  will  be  found  in  the  first  volume  of  the 
great  work  of  the  Commendatore  de  Rossi  (pp.  175 — 183),  arranged 
according  to  the  routes.  He  also  gives  a  table  of  the  names  of  the 
catacombs  according  to  the  same  order,  with  the  variety  of  names 
often  given  to  the  same  catacomb. 

The  following  list  of  the  subjects  engraved  in  these  valuable  works 
on  the  Catacombs  may  be  useful  and  interesting  to  those  who  have 
not  access  to  the  originals,  nor  to  these  large  and  expensive  books. 
Those  of  Bosio  and  Aringhi  are  the  most  complete  and  systematic, 
and  many  paintings  which  they  were  able  to  draw  then  have  almost 
disappeared  now,  or  have  been  buried  again.  Bosio  has  left  his  name 
inscribed  on  the  walls  in  several  places  where  he  had  made  draw¬ 
ings  in  the  sixteenth  century.  The  artists  employed  by  the  French 
Government  under  the  direction  of  M.  Perret,  are  said  to  have  left 
their  mark  in  a  less  creditable  manner  :  in  some  instances,  a  pencil 
line  remains  traced  in  the  outlines  of  the  figures  which  they  copied ; 
or  possibly  these  may  have  been  made  by  D’Agincourt,  who  has  pub¬ 
lished  facsimile  tracings  of  some  of  them.  In  other  instances,  some 
chemical  process  has  been  employed  by  the  French  artists  to  bring 
out  the  colours  temporarily,  which  has  caused  them  to  decay  more 
rapidly  since,  until  these  have  now  almost  disappeared. 


BOS  10. 


The  following  subjects  were  drawn  by  Bosio  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  engraved  on  a  series  of  copper-plates,  which  were 
published  after  his  death  in  two  folio  volumes  with  letter-press  in 
Italian,  giving  a  full  account  of  his  discoveries.  The  same  plates 
were  afterwards  republished  by  Aringhi,  with  a  Latin  text,  giving  the 
substance  of  Bosio’s  Italian  work,  and  additional  matter  respecting 
the  saints  and  martyrs  interred  there.  This  new  matter  is  chiefly 
taken  from  the  Martyrologium  Romanian ,  which  was  enlarged  in 
the  acts  of  the  Martyrs  published  by  the  Bollandists,  in  the  order 
of  the  days  of  the  months  of  the  martyrdoms,  a  great  work,  which 
is  still  going  on.  Very  few  of  the  materials  for  the  Acta  Mar- 
tyrum  can  be  traced  to  an  earlier  period  than  the  eighth  or  ninth 
centuries,  the  great  era  of  pilgrimages  at  Rome  to  the  graves  of  the 
martyrs,  lately  resumed  in  considerable  numbers,  but  to  a  compara¬ 
tively  slight  extent.  A  few  of  these  acts,  such  as  those  of  S.  Cyprian 
and  S.  Justin  Martyr,  are  believed  to  be  genuine,  and  as  early  as  the 
second  or  third  century. 

In  the  catacomb  of  S.  Peter  at  the  Vatican,  several  sculptures  are 
engraved  by  Bosio;  the  earliest  from  the  sarcophagus  of  Junius 
Bassus  in  the  fourth  century,  and  several  from  sculptures  in  the 
church  of  the  fifteenth  century,  of  course  purely  imaginary.  These 
sculptures  comprise  plates  I.  to  XIII.  of  Bosio  and  Aringhi,  and 
most  of  the  sculptures  themselves  are  now  preserved  in  the  Vatican 
or  the  Lateran  Museum,  or  in  the  crypt  of  S.  Peter’s. 


1.  Sarcophagus  of  Junius  Bassus. 

2,  3,  4.  - - -  Probus  and  Proba,  still 

in  the  crypt  of  S.  Peter’s. 

5  to  13  are  other  sculptured  marble 
coffins  {sarcophagi)  of  the  same  kind, 
found  in  the  pavement  or  in  the  foun¬ 
dations  in  1590,  and  from  that  to  1607 
by  Bosio  or  his  friends.  Many  of  the 
subjects  are  the  same  as  those  of  the 
paintings,  the  Good  Shepherd,  Laza¬ 
rus,  Elijah,  Jonah,  &c. 

14,  15.  Another  sarcophagus,  found  in 
the  pavement,  which  contained  the 
bodies  of  four  Popes,  Leo  I.,  II., 
III.,  IV.  Upon  it  are  sculptures  of 
Christ  and  the  Apostles,  and  at  their 
feet  twelve  small  sheep,  and  a  large 


one  in  the  centre.  At  the  feet  of  Christ 
may  be  seen  small  figures  of  S.  Mary 
and  S.  John ;  at  one  end  Elijah  in 
the  chariot,  at  the  other  end  Abra¬ 
ham  and  Isaac.  This  sculpture  is 
very  probably  of  the  time  of  S.  Leo  I. 
or  the  Great,  c.  A.  D.  450. 

16.  Another  late  sarcophagus,  with  the 
cross  and  monogram  J?  in  the  centre. 

17  to  28  are  others  of  similar  character. 
The  one  engraved  on  plates  19  and 
20  has  foliage  of  Byzantine  character, 
and  at  the  two  ends  are  buildings  so 
much  like  those  in  the  mosaic  pic¬ 
ture  of  S.  Pudentiana,  that  they  are 
probably  copied  from  it.  This  sarco¬ 
phagus  is  now  in  the  Lateran  Museum. 


The  Engravings  of  Bos io. 


1 67 


VIA  PORTUENSIS. 

Catacomb  of  Pontianus. 

29.  Two  subjects — 

1.  Head  of  Christ,  with  a  cruciform 
nimbus,  which  is  jewelled  or  orna¬ 
mented  with  pearls  or  beads,  a  com¬ 
mon  feature  in  costumes  of  the  eighth 
and  ninth  centuries. 

2.  The  Three  Children  in  the 
“  burning  fiery  furnace.” 

30.  1.  Baptism  of  Christ,  over  an  arch. 

2.  The  jewelled  cross,  under  the 

same  arch.  This  arch  is  over  the 
well,  with  a  flight  of  steps  down  to 
it  called  the  Baptistery. 

3 1 .  Christ  crowning  the  martyrs  Abdon 
and  Sennen,  SS.  Milex  and  Bicentius, 
or  Vincentius.  Levita  standing  by  in 
the  attitude  of  adoration. 

32.  1.  SS.  Marcellinus,  Pollinus,  and 
Petrus.  The  central  figure  holds  the 
crown  of  martyrdom  in  his  hand,  the 
others  hold  each  a  roll  of  parchment. 

2.  A  jewelled  cross  over  a  doorway 
in  a  rock,  probably  intended  for  Cal¬ 
vary  ;  on  the  left  S.  Milex,  on  the 
right  S.  Pigmenius. 

VIA  OSTIENSIS. 

137.  A  Cubiculum,  found  near  Ostia, 
after  the  death  of  Bosio.  Two  views 
shewing  the  graves  in  the  walls. 

139.  The  vault  of  the  same  Cubiculum, 
with  the  Good  Shepherd  in  the  centre, 
and  the  four  seasons  in  four  panels  of 
the  vault ;  on  the  walls,  the  history  of 
Jonah.  All  these  paintings  were  exe¬ 
cuted  in  yellow  ochre  only,  and  the 
vault,  which  was  in  a  tumulus  or 
mound  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  was 
obliged  to  be  destroyed. 

PP-  r55>  I57>  J59)  l6l>  are  from  sculp¬ 
tures. 

Pp.  1 8 1 ,  1  S3.  Burial  of  SS.  Peter  and 
Paul,  from  a  sculpture  over  the  door  of 
old  S.  Peter’s,  of  the  time  of  Martin  V., 
A.D.  1420. 

P.  195.  Plan  of  S.  Sebastian’s,  the  ori¬ 
ginal  drawing  is  now  preserved  in 
S.  Maria  in  Aventino. 


VIA  APPIA. 

S.  Calixtus. 

P.  197,  199,  201,  are  vases  said  to 
have  contained  the  blood  of  martyrs, 
and  lachrymatories  ;  two  of  the  vases 
have  the  monogram  ^  of  Constantine, 
the  others  appear  to  be  also  of  the 
fourth  century. 

P.  203,  205,  207,  209,  2 1 1,  are  lamps, 
some  of  bronze,  others  of  earthen¬ 
ware.  One  of  them  also  has  the  mo¬ 
nogram,  another  the  Good  Shepherd ; 
these  appear  to  be  all  of  the  fourth 
and  fifth  centuries. 

P.  219,  221,  223.  First  Cubicu¬ 
lum.  View  of  two  of  the  subjects 
in  it.  1.  Christ  on  a  throne,  with 
the  Twelve  Apostles  ;  two  seated,  the 
rest  standing.  2.  The  Good  Shep¬ 
herd  standing  between  the  trees  in 
a  landscape,  with  figures  symbolical 
of  Spring  and  Summer. 

P.  225.  History  of  Jonah  (third  picture 
in  the  first  Cubiculum). 

227.  Moses  striking  the  rock,  dressed 
in  surplice,  and  what  appears  to  be 
a  stole  (fourth  picture  in  first  Cubicu¬ 
lum),  and  other  miracles. 

229.  Second  Cubiculum,  two  views. 

231.  Vault  of  the  same.  In  the  centre, 
miracle  of  the  loaves,  in  panels  of 
the  vault.  1.  Moses  and  the  rock  ; 
2.  Noah;  3.  “  Fiery  furnace  ;  ”  4. 
Abraham  and  Isaac ;  5.  Miracle  of 
the  loaves. 

233.  Under  the  arch,  1.  Adam  and  Eve; 
2.  The  Paralytic  ;  3.  An  orante. 

235.  Daniel  and  the  lions,  two  Prophets 
with  scrolls. 

237.  Third  Cubiculum,  two  views. 

239.  Vault  of  the  same.  In  the  centre, 
Orpheus.  In  panels,  1.  Daniel ;  2. 
Lazarus  ;  3.  David  with  the  sling  ; 
4.  Moses.  In  the  intermediate  panels 
are  animals  charmed  by  Orpheus. 

241.  Wall  and  arch.  1.  “Fiery  fur¬ 
nace  ;”  2.  and  3.  Orantes ;  4.  Good 
Shepherd. 


Appendix  to  the  Catacombs. 


1 68 


243.  Vault.  1.  In  the  centre,  Noah  ; 
2.  Tobias  with  the  fish  ;  3.  Jonah 
under  the  gourd  or  ivy  -  bush  (?) ; 
4.  Job  ;  5.  Jonah  recumbent,  with  the 
sun  hot  upon  him. 

245.  Wall  and  arch.  I.  Moses  with 
vases  of  manna  (?)  ;  2.  Christ  with 
bread  in  His  bosom  ;  3.  The  Woman 
of  Samaria  ;  4.  An  orante. 

247.  Vault  in  the  third  Cubiculum.  In 
the  centre,  Moses,  with  the  Law  in  his 
hand  (?)  ;  the  remainder  flowers  only. 

249.  Miracles  of  the  blind  and  the  para¬ 
lytic.  Two  lambs,  each  with  a  crook 
and  a  vase. 

251.  1.  Fourth  Cubiculum.  View 
in  two  parts,  right  and  left  of  the 
lucerna  or  luminare. 

253-  2.  The  vault,  with  the  head  of 
Christ  in  the  centre,  enclosed  in  a 
circle,  octagonal  frames  beyond,  and 
on  the  sides  vases  with  birds  and 
flowers. 

255.  3.  An  Arco-solium,  with  figures 
painted  on  the  surface  of  the  wall. 
In  the  centre  a  Madonna,  seated  (the 
Magi  destroyed)  ;  on  the  right,  Moses 
striking  the  rock  ;  on  the  left,  a  Pro¬ 
phet  ;  a  building  in  the  background. 
Under  the  arch,  Orpheus  with  the 
lyre,  the  birds  and  the  beasts. 

257.  Third  Painting  on  the  fourth  Cubi¬ 
culum.  On  the  wall,  an  orante,  Noah, 
Lazarus ;  under  the  arch,  Elijah  and 
Elisha. 

259.  Fourth  Picture  in  the  fourth  Cubi¬ 
culum.  On  the  wall,  Moses  taking  off 
his  shoes ;  under  the  arch,  Daniel 
and  the  lions. 

261.  Under  the  arch,  Christ  and  Dis¬ 
ciples  ;  on  the  wall  and  on  the  soffit, 
grapes  and  children. 

263.  Under  the  arch,  a  head  in  a  circu¬ 
lar  frame,  in  the  costume  of  a  Car¬ 
dinal  (?)  ;  on  the  wall,  Daniel  and 
Moses. 

0  N.  B.  The  drawing  and  costumes  of 

nearly  all  these  frescoes  in  S.  Calixtus, 

S.  Cornelius,  and  S.  Sixtus  seem  to  be- 


265.  Under  an  arch,  the  Good  Shepherd. 

267.  Fragments  from  two  paintings. 
1.  Head  of  Christ ;  2.  Moses  ;  3.  La¬ 
zarus  ;  4.  Good  Shepherd ;  5.  Miracle 
of  the  loaves ;  6.  Christ  blessing 

a  child. 

269.  1.  Two  orantes ;  2.  The  Good 
Shepherd. 

271.  The  same  subjects. 

273.  I.  Adam  and  Eve ;  2.  An  orante 
under  an  arch,  of  very  late  character  ; 
3.  Good  Shepherd  and  two  orantes  °. 

277.  Jonah,  the  Good  Shepherd,  two 
orantes. 

279.  1.  General  view  of  Arco-solium,  or 
painted  arch.  On  the  wall  under  it, 
father,  mother,  and  child  ;  in  centre 
of  soffit,  the  Good  Shepherd  ;  on  the 
left,  the  three  children  led  to  worship 
the  image  of  Nebuchadnezzar  ;  on  the 
right,  offering  of  the  Magi. 

281.  In  the  centre,  the  Good  Shepherd  ; 
left,  Moses  taking  off  his  shoes  ;  right, 
Moses  striking  the  rock. 

2S5,  287,  289,  291,  293,  295.  Sculptures. 

VIA  LATINA. 

305.  The  Marriage  Feast  of  Cana,  or 
a  funeral  feast ;  six  figures  seated  at 
a  triclinium,  with  four  large  water  or 
wine  vessels  in  front. 

First  Cubiculum.  View,  with 
fossores. 

307.  Vault.  In  centre,  1.  Good  Shepherd. 
In  panels  ;  2.  Christ  blessing  a  child  ; 
3.  Job;  4.  Lazarus;  5.  Moses;  6.  and 
7.  Lambs  bearing  crosses. 

309.  Second  Cubiculum.  View. 

311.  Vault  of  the  same,  with  the  Good 
Shepherd  and  vine.  Under  the  arch, 
an  orante,  with  two  caskets. 

VIA  LABICANA. 

SS.  Peter  and  Marcellinus. 

323.  Plan  of  the  Tomb  of  S.  Helena, 
called  the  Church  of  SS.  Peter  and 
Marcellinus. 

long  to  the  restoration  of  Leo  III.,  A. D. 

795.  Those  in  SS.  Peter  and  Marcellinus 

were  restored  A.  D.  772  by  Hadrian  I. 


The  Engravings  of  Bosio. 


169 


325.  Plan  and  View  of  the  confessio. 

329.  First  Cubiculum.  Views. 

331.  Vault  of  the  same.  In  the  centre, 
1.  Good  Shepherd  ;  2.  Jonah  ;  3.  La¬ 
zarus  ;  4.  Miracle  of  the  loaves. 

333.  Second  Cubiculum.  View. 

335.  Vault  of  the  same  ;  1.  Good  Shep¬ 
herd  in  the  centre,  with  four  orantes 
in  panels.  Two  fossores. 

337.  Third  Cubiculum.  View. 

339.  Vault  of  the  same.  I.  Good  Shep¬ 
herd  in  the  centre  ;  2.  Noah  ;  3.  Laza¬ 
rus  ;  4.  Daniel  and  lions ;  5.  Abra¬ 
ham  ;  6  and  7.  Fossores. 

341.  Fourth  Cubiculum.  View. 

343.  Vault  of  the  same.  1.  Good  Shep¬ 
herd  ;  2  and  3.  Jonah  ;  4.  Noah  ; 
A.  Moses  ;  B.  Christ  blessing  a  child. 

345.  Fifth  Cubiculum.  View. 

347.  1.  Good  Shepherd ;  2.  Paralytic, 
with  bed  ;  3.  Job  ;  4.  orante. 

349.  Sixth  Cubiculum.  Views. 

351.  Vault  of  the  same  ;  1.  Good  Shep¬ 
herd  ;  2,  3,  4,  and  5.  orantes. 

353.  Seventh  Cubiculum.  View. 

355.  Feast  of  Cana,  with  four  large 
vases. 

357.  Eighth  Cubiculum.  View. 

359.  Paintings  on  the  same  :  1.  Abra¬ 
ham  ;  2.  Lazarus ;  3.  Moses ;  4. 

orantes. 

361.  Ninth  Cubiculum.  View. 

363.  Vault  of  the  same  ;  1.  Good  Shep¬ 
herd  ;  2,  3,  4.  Moses. 

365.  Tenth  Cubiculum.  View. 

367.  Vault  of  the  same;  1,2,3.  orantes; 
4.  Moses  ;  5.  Miracle  of  the  loaves. 

369.  Paintings  in  the  same  :  1.  Good 
Shepherd  ;  2.  Jonah  ;  3.  Moses  ; 

4.  orante. 

371.  Eleventh  Cubiculum.  View. 

373.  Vault  of  the  same:  .1.  Good  Shep¬ 
herd  ;  2.  Paralytic  ;  3.  Miracle  of  the 
loaves;  4.  Lazarus;  5.  Daniel;  6 and 
7.  Jonah  ;  8.  Moses  ;  9.  Noah.  Two 
fossores. 

375.  Twelfth  Cubiculum.  View. 

377.  Vault  of  the  same  :  1.  Daniel  and 
lions  in  the  centre  ;  2.  Noah  ;  3,  4,  5. 
Jonah.  Two  orantes. 

379.  Thirteenth  Cubiculum.  View. 


381.  Paintings  in  the  same  :  1.  A  ma¬ 
tron,  orante,  with  two  persons  ad¬ 
dressing  her ;  2.  Moses ;  3.  Adam 
and  Eve. 

383.  1.  Good  Shepherd ;  2,  3,  4,  5. 

Jonah  ;  A.  Daniel ;  B.  Lazarus. 

385.  Fourteenth  Cubiculum.  View. 

387.  1.  Good  Shepherd ;  2.  orante ; 
3.  Daniel. 

389.  1.  Orante,  with  two  figures  ad¬ 
dressing  her ;  2.  Adam  and  Eve  ; 

3.  Magi ;  4.  Moses. 

391.  1.  Funeral  Feast ;  2.  Good  Shep¬ 
herd  ;  3  and  4.  Jonah. 

393.  1.  View  of  the  Arch  ;  2.  Lazarus  ; 
3.  orante  ;  4  and  5.  Moses. 

395.  Third  Arco-solium.  i.  Abra¬ 
ham  ;  2.  Adam  ;  3.  Moses  ;  4.  Laza¬ 
rus  ;  5.  orante;  6.  Funeral  feast. 

VIA  TIBURTINA. 

S.  Cyriaca. 

403.  In  the  Catacomb  of  S.  Cyriaca,  an 
inscription,  with  the  name  of 
FOCA  III  COS.  CARI  AMICI 

a.d.  6o4(?)  or  610. 

405.  Orante  under  'an  arch,  with  two 
figures. 

408.  Other  inscriptions  give  the  dates 
of  A.D.  369,  405,  453. 

409.  Other  inscriptions  give  the  dates 
of  A.D.  428,  5 1 1; 

41 1.  Sarcophagus  at  S.  Lorenzo. 

421.  Another  at  S.  Constantia. 

423>  425.  427»  429,  431-  Sarcophagi. 

VIA  NOMENTANA. 

S.  Agnese. 

441.  First  Cubiculum.  View. 

443.  Interior  of  the  same. 

445.  Vault  of  the  same.  1.  Christ 
seated,  with  the  scroll ;  2  and  3. 

Moses  ;  4.  Paralytic  ;  5.  Lazarus  ;  6, 
7,  8,  9.  orantes. 

447.  An  agape,  or  funeral  feast. 

449.  1.  Noah;  2,  3,  4,  5.  Jonah. 

451.  1.  Good  Shepherd  ;  2.  Daniel  and 
lions. 

453.  Second  Cubiculum.  View. 

455.  1.  Good  Shepherd ;  2.  Adam  ; 
3.  Moses;  4.  Jonah;  5.  orante. 


170 


Appendix  to  the  Catacombs. 


457.  x.  Christ  and  the  Doctors ;  2. 
orante. 

459.  Third  Cubiculum.  View. 

461.  1.  Good  Shepherd;  2.  Adam;  3. 

Daniel ;  4.  feast ;  5.  virgin;  6.  orante. 
463.  1.  Furnace  ;  2.  orante  ;  3.  Jonah. 
465.  Fourth  Cubiculum.  View. 

467.  1.  Good  Shepherd ;  2.  Moses  ; 

3.  Lazarus;  4.  Jonah;  5.  orante. 

469.  Fifth  Cubiculum.  View. 

471.  1.  Madonna;  2.  Head  of  Christ  ; 
3,  4.  orante. 

473.  First  Arco-solium. 

1.  View;  2.  Head  of  boy;  3,  4. 
orantes  ;  5.  Good  Shepherd  ;  6.  Jo¬ 
nah  ;  7.  a  man  led  by  another,  and 
followed  by  a  third  with  a  rod, 
Jacob  or  Samson. 

475.  Second  Arco-solium. 

1.  View  ;  2.  Christ,  with  two  Apo¬ 
stles  ;  3.  Good  Shepherd ;  4.  orante. 
VIA  SALARIA. 

S.  Priscilla. 

489.  Chapel  of  S.  Silvanus. 

S.  Priscilla. 

493.  First  Cubiculum. 

495.  1.  Furnace  ;  2.  Seven  Virgins. 

497.  Second  Cubiculum. 

499.  1.  Head  in  circle;  2,  3.  Ladies 
with  scrolls  ;  4,  5.  Triumphal  cars  ; 
6,  7.  Figure  of  Victory. 

501.  First  Arco-solium. 

1.  View  ;  2.  A  soldier  with  a  boy  ; 

3.  Moses  (?)  4.  Head  of  a  soldier  in 
a  circle  ;  5.  Abraham. 

503.  Second  Arco-solium. 

1.  View  ;  2.  orante  ;  3.  Abraham  ; 

4.  Good  Shepherd ;  5-  Moses. 

5 1 1.  Sculpture. 

513.  Sarcophagus.  On  one  side,  an 
agape ;  on  the  other,  three  shepherds 
and  six  sheep ;  with  a  Greek  inscription 
to  Paulina,  of  the  fourth  century. 

515.  Third  Arco-solium. 

1.  View ;  2.  Lazarus  ;  3.  Moses, 
with  seven  baskets  of  manna ;  4. 
Moses  striking  the  rock. 

p  Costumes  of  all,  surplice,  and 
stole  (?). 

q  Nearly  all  these  paintings  in  S.  Pris- 


517.  1.  Good  Shepherd;  2.  orante; 

3.  Noah ;  4.  Daniel. 

519.  Fourth  Arco-solium. 

1.  Good  Shepherd ;  2.  S.  Paul, 
with  inscription  of  name. 

521.  Fifth  Arco-solium. 

1.  View;  2.  Moses  ;  3.  Daniel ;  4. 
Jonah. 

523.  Sixth  Arco-solium. 

1.  View;  2.  Christ  and  Apostles; 
3,  4.  Jonah. 

525.  Seventh  Arco-solium. 

1.  Orante;  2.  Abraham;  3.  furnace. 
527.  Eighth  Arco-solium. 

1.  View;  2.  Good  Shepherd;  3. 
Daniel ;  4.  Jonah. 

529.  Ninth  Arco-solium. 

1,  2.  Views  ;  3.  Noah  ;  4.  orante  ; 

5.  fossor. 

531.  Tenth  Arco-solium. 

1.  View  ;  2.  Good  Shepherd,  two 
sheep,  two  cocks  ;  3.  orante  ;  4.  pea¬ 
cock  ;  5.  Noah. 

535.  Third  Cubiculum.  Two  Views. 
537.  Vault  of  the  same  ;  1.  Good  Shep¬ 
herd  ;  2  and  3.  orantes. 

539.  FourthCubiculum.  Two  Views. 
541.  Vault  of  the  same.  A  lady  seated, 
a  prophet  (?)  addressing  her. 

543.  Wall  of  the  same.  1.  Lazarus  ; 
2,  3>  4-  Jonah. 

545.  Fifth  Cubiculum.  Two  Views. 
547.  Vault  of  the  same  ;  1.  Good  Shep¬ 
herd  ;  2.  Jonah,  birds  and  lambs. 

549.  Fifth  Cubiculum.  Under  an 
arch  :  I.  orante ;  2.  Consecration  of 
a  virgin  ;  2,  3.  Madonna,  an  ordina¬ 
tion  of  a  deacon  (?) p. 

551.  Fifth  Cubiculum.  1.  Abraham; 
2.  Fiery  furnace. 

553.  Sixth  Cubiculum.  Two  Views. 
555.  Vault  of  the  same.  1.  Good  Shep¬ 
herd  ;  2.  Noah  ;  3,  4,  5.  Jonah ; 

6,  7,  8,  9.  orantes. 

557.  Wall  of  the  same.  1.  Peacock  ; 
2.  Eight  men  carrying  a  barrel ; 
two  doves'*. 

cilia  appear  to  belong  to  the  restora¬ 
tion  of  this  catacomb  by  Pope  John  I., 
A.D.  523. 


Bosio  and  A  ringhi  compared. 


171 


Via  Salaria. 


Via  Flaminia. 


561.  Church  or  Chapel  of  S.  Hermes, 
in  that  Catacomb. 

565.  First  Arco-solium.  i.  View; 

2.  Christ  on  a  throne,  seated,  and  an 
ordination  of  a  deacon  :  three  figures 
standing,  all  in  surplice,  stole,  and 
cope,  with  the  ~J~  on  the  edge  of  the 
robe,  as  in  the  mosaics  at  Ravenna  ; 

3.  Daniel ;  4.  Moses  ;  5.  Lazarus ; 

6.  Furnace. 

567.  Second  Arco-solium.  1.  View; 
2.  Christ  blessing  a  youth  ;  3.  Jonah  ; 

4.  Moses  ;  5.  Shepherd  ;  6.  Jonah  ; 

7.  Lazarus  ;  Samson  with  the  gates  ; 
Jonah. 

569.  Third  Cubiculum.  i.  View ; 

2.  Orante  ;  3.  Manna,  or  loaves  (?). 
571.  Martyrdom  of  S.  Sebastian  in  terra¬ 
cotta  bas-relief. 


s 

A 

L 

O 

M 

E 


577.  First  Cubiculum. 

S.  Julien  or  S.  Valentine  (?). 

579.  1.  Madonna  [sca  dei  gene- 
trix.  x  ]  ;  2.  Sebastian  ;  3.  A 
martyr  in  a  vase  of  boiling  oil  (?), 
of  the  eighth  or  ninth  century ;. 

4.  Infant  Christ,  with  cruciform 
nimbus. 

581.  Second  Cubiculum.  i.  Cruci¬ 
fixion  ;  2.  S.  Laurence ;  3.  A  martyr. 
589.  Two  sarcophagi. 

591.  1.  A  sarcophagus. 

2.  A.  Plan  of  the  catacomb  of  Pon- 
tianus  ;  B.,  of  S.  Calixtus  ;  C.,  of  S. 
Calixtus,  lower  corridor;  D.,  SS. 
Peter  and  Marcellinus  ;  F.,  S.  Agnes  ; 
F,  S.  Hermes  and  S.  Priscilla. 


THE  PLATES  IN  BOSIO,  ROMA  SOTTERRANEA r,  AND 
ARINGHI,  ROMA  SUBTERRANEA,  COMPARED8. 


Aringhi.  Bosio. 


Vol.  I. 


The  Title-page  is  copied  from  Bosio,  but  re-engraved. 


Antiquse  Romas  facies,  or  ancient  Plan  of  Rome 

p.  188 

S.  Peter’s. 

Burial  of  S.  Peter 

228 

p.  29. 

Sarcophagus  of  Junius  Bassus 

277 

45- 

Sculptures  on  other  sarcophagi 

281  to  335 

49  to  103. 

Via  Portuensis — S.  Pontianus. 

Paintings  in  cemeteries 

379  to  389 

129  to  139. 

Sculptures  on  sarcophagi 

423  to  469 

155  to  183. 

Via  Appia — S.  Sebastian’s. 

Plan  ..... 

47i 

1S5. 

Vases,  lamps,  &c. 

497  to  519 

197  to  21 1. 

S.  Calixtus. 

Paintings  .... 

527  to  589 

219  to  281. 

S.  Sebastian’s. 

Sculptures  on  sarcophagi 

613  to  623 

285  to  295. 

r  *  ‘  Roma  Sotterranea,  opera  postuma 
di  Antonio  Bosio,  antiquario  ecclesias- 
tico  singolare  de’  suoi  tempi,  compita, 
disposta,  ed  accresciuta  dal  M.  R.  P. 
Giovanni  Severani  da  S.  Severino,  sa- 
cerdote  della  congregatione  dell’  Ora¬ 
torio  di  Roma,”  &c.  fol.,  Roma,  1632. 

8  “Roma  Subterranea  novissima,  in 
qua  post  Antonium  Bosium  antesigna- 


tum,  Jo.  Severanum,  congreg.  Oratorii 
presb.,  et  celebres  alios  scriptores,  etc., 
sex  libris  distincta  illustrantur,  opera 
et  studio  Pauli  Aringhi,  Romani,  cong. 
ejusdem  presb.”  2vols.  fol.  Rome,  1651. 
This  work  was  reprinted  at  Cologne  in 
1659,  fol.,  and  an  abridgment  of  it  was 
published  at  Arnheim,  in  1671,  121110. 


172 


Appendix  to  the  Catacombs. 


VIA  LATINA  [LABICANA?]. 

Aringhi. 
Vol.  II. 

Bosio. 

Ccemeteria  ..... 

S.  Helena. 

23  to  29 

305  to  31 1. 

Sarcophagus  . 

S.  Marcellinus  et  Petrus. 

4i 

317- 

Paintings  .  .  .  .  . 

51  to  53 

323  to  325. 

Plans  of  the  Tomb  and  Church  . 

Via  Tiburtina — S.  Cyriaca. 

57 

329- 

Paintings  ..... 

S.  Laurentius. 

123  to  137 

395  to  4°5- 

Sarcophagus  ..... 

Via  Nomentana — S.  Constantia. 

143 

411. 

Sarcophagus  ..... 

S.  Agnes. 

157 

421. 

Sarcophagi  ..... 

159  to  167 

423  to  431. 

Paintings  ..... 

VIA  SALARIA. 

179  to  213 

441  to  475. 

SS.  Sylvanus  et  Bonifacius  . 

S.  Priscilla. 

243 

489. 

Paintings  ..... 

247  to  315 

493  to  555* 

S.  Agnes,  by  mistake,  in  both 

S.  Hermes. 

317 

557- 

Capella,  called  Templum 

325 

561. 

Paintings  ..... 

Martyrdom  of  S.  Sebastian,  in  terra-cotta,  in 

329  to  333 

565  to  569. 

the  Cemetery  of  Priscilla 

S.  Julius. 

335 

57i* 

Paintings  ..... 

350  to  355 

577  to  581. 

Sarcophagi  ..... 

Plans  of  the  Catacombs  of  Pontianus,  Calixtus, 
Marcellinus  and  Peter,  Agnes,  Hermes, 

395  to  401 

589  to  591. 

Priscilla  ..... 

Additional  Plans,  not  in  Bosio,  Lucina,  Cale- 

408  to  416 

591  a  to  599. 

podius,  Agatha,  Novella  . 

Pontianus. 

417  to  423. 

Paintings  not  in  Bosio  .... 

527- 

PERRET. 


List  of  the  Engravings  in  the  great  French  work  on  the  Catacombs, 
by  Louis  Perret,  six  volumes,  large  folio.  Paris,  1852-56. 


VOL.  I. 

Via  Appia. 

S.  Sebastian. 

1.  General  title,  with  the  Madonna  of 
S.  Luke(?),  from  S.  Maria  Maggiore. 

2.  Title  of  the  Platonia,  with  heads  of 
SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  from  a  medal  in 
the  Vatican. 

3.  Plan  of  the  Platonia,  at  S.  Sebas- 
tiano. 

4  and  5.  Sections  of  the  same. 

6.  Paintings  in  the  same,  of  the  eighth 
century  (c.  A.  D.  772). 

7.  Christ,  with  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  on 
a  larger  scale  (from  the  same). 

8.  An  Apostle,  with  a  crown  in  his 
hand  (from  the  same). 

9.  Ascension  of  Christ  (from  the  same). 

10.  Crucifixion  (from  the  same). 

1 1.  Head  of  S.  Paul. 

12.  Head  of  a  saint,  with  a  bishop’s 
mitre ;  full  size. 

13.  Plead  of  a  female  saint ;  full  size. 

14.  Ornamented  diaper  pattern,  with 
birds,  &c. 

S.  Calixtus. 

The  paintings  in  this  Catacomb  are 

chiefly  of  the  time  of  the  restoration 

by  Leo  III.,  a.d.  795,  and  many  are 

modern  restorations. 

15.  Entrance. 

16.  Plan. 

17.  Plan  of  painted  chapel,  of  two 
parts. 

18.  View  in  the  Hall  of  the  Men,  with 
columns. 

19.  View  in  the  Hall  of  the  Women, 
with  columns  also. 

20.  Orpheus  playing  the  lute. 

21.  A  saint  in  the  Oriental  attitude  of 
blessing  (c.  A.D.  795). 

22.  Ornamental  pattern  on  the  wall, 
and  vault. 

23.  Noah  in  the  ark,  with  the  dove. 

24.  Moses  taking  off  his  shoes. 


25.  Job. 

26.  Raising  of  Lazarus. 

27.  Miracle  of  the  loaves. 

28.  Head  of  Christ,  full  size.  A  mo¬ 
saic  from  this  is  now  in  the  Vatican 
Museum. 

29.  The  Last  Supper ;  Christ  and  six 
Apostles ;  full  size. 

30.  The  Last  Supper;  the  other  six 
Apostles. 

31.  Instruments  of  the  fossores,  as  en¬ 
graved  on  tombstones. 

32  and  33.  Inscriptions  relating  to  the 
fossores. 

34.  An  orante,  full  size ;  now  in  the 
Vatican  Museum. 

34  bis.  Painted  vault  of  a  chapel,  with 
Orpheus  in  the  centre. 

P  R/ET  EXT  AT  US, 

Called  also  S.  Urban,  restored  by 

Hadrian  I.,  A.D.  772- 

35.  Title-page  of  the  cemetery,  with 
a  view  of  the  steps. 

36.  Plan  of  a  double  cubiculum  or 
chapel,  excavated  in  1846. 

37.  Section  of  the  same. 

38.  View  in  the  Hall  of  the  Men. 

39.  Plan  and  section  of  a  family  cubi¬ 
culum,  or  burial-vault. 

40.  Plan  of  a  chapel  of  two  chambers. 

41.  Longitudinal  section  of  the  same, 
with  an  ornamental  cornice  or  corbel- 
table  ;  eighth  century. 

42.  Transverse  section  of  the  same. 

43.  Plan  of  a  painted  chapel,  of  two 
chambers. 

44.  Perspective  view  of  the  same,  with 
figures  of  orantes,  and  inscriptions 
over  their  heads,  as  follows  : — 

Inscriptions  on  tombstones  :  dio- 
NISIUS  IN  PACE  ;  PROCOBIUS  IN 
PACE  ;  TESSIDORA  IN  PACE. 

The  figures  are  represented  on  a 
larger  scale  in  the  following  plates. 

45.  A  female  orante ;  full  size,  eighth 
century  (c.  a.d.  772). 


174 


Appendix  to  tJie  Catacombs. 


46.  A  boy  orante. 

47.  Drocobius,  a  male  orante  ;  full  size. 

48.  Theodora,  a  female  orante,  full 
size,  with  the  bead  necklace  and 
lemon-shaped  eyes,  as  usual  in  the 
eighth  century. 

49.  Head  of  a  female  orante  ;  full  size, 
with  inscription,  dionysas  IN  pace. 

50.  Christ  and  four  saints,  in  outline  ; 
three  with  monogram  ;  discovered  in 
1849. 

51.  A  peacock  ;  discovered  in  1849. 

52.  Plan  of  another  chapel,  of  two 
chambers,  with  luminary. 

53.  Longitudinal  section  of  the  same. 

54.  Plan  and  section  of  two  arco-solia. 

55.  Paintings  of  the  left  cubiculum,  front 
view. 

A  cross,  with  shrubs,  and  two 
birds  ;  Miracle  of  loaves  and  fishes  ; 
a  table  ornamented  with  the  cross, 
upon  it  a  fish. 

56.  Garland  of  flowers. 

57.  Moses,  on  three  occasions,  in  outline. 

58.  Cubiculum,  or  chapel  of  three 
chambers ;  two  plans,  and  view  of 
a  tomb,  with  inscription,  evnvcvs, 
and  monogram  of  Constantine. 

59.  Section  of  the  same. 

60.  A  baptism  ;  Jonah  cast  out  of  the 
whale  or  sea  serpent  ( c .  A.  D.  450). 

61.  Seven  baskets  of  bread,  a  table 
with  a  fish,  and  two  loaves. 

62.  Plan  of  a  chapel,  with  luminary  ; 
discovered  in  1845. 

63.  View  of  the  same,  with  columns. 

64.  Two  doves,  with  a  vase  between 
them,  standing  on  a  tomb. 

65.  Painted  vault  of  a  cubiculum  ;  dis¬ 
covered  in  1850. 

66.  Painted  ornament  on  the  wall  of 
the  same. 

67.  Jonah  under  the  gourd  ;  a  painting 
discovered  in  1850. 

68.  Plan  of  two  arco-solia  ;  elevation 
of  one  of  them. 

69.  A  female  martyr. 

*  This  subject,  which  may  be  con¬ 
sidered  as  Pagan,  was  adopted  by  the 

early  Christians  ;  we  find  it  as  late  as 


The  worshippers  of  Mithras  (?) ; 
or,  The  Gnostics  (?). 

70.  A  funeral  feast ;  six  figures  seated, 
and  five  attendants,  with  the  names 
on  each  figure,  indictio  bonorvm, 

I NDVCTIO  VIBIES,  ANGELVS  BONVS 
(leading  in  vibia).  Wine-jug,  ser¬ 
vants,  one  kneeling,  a  loaf,  a  fish. 

71.  Groups  of  figures;  on  the  soffit  of 
the  right-hand  arch,  vincentivs, 
septem  pii  sacerdotes,  dressed  in 
cloaks,  with  fibulae ;  seven  figures, 
three  of  the  heads  have  Phrygian 
caps.  It  is  called  the  mystic  banquet. 

72.  The  painting  is  on  the  soffit  of  the 
arch.  Left  hand,  a  chariot  with  four 
horses  ;  a  man  carrying  the  body  of 
a  female,  said  to  represent  death  ; 
a  figure,  with  a  round  shield,  resem¬ 
bling  Mercury  leading  the  horses. 
Inscription  over  the  chariot, 

ABREPTIO  VIBIES  ET  DESCENSIO. 
Groups  in  centre  of  arch. 

73.  The  Judgment ;  two  figures  seated 
on  a  throne,  over  1.  Dis  pater  ;  over 
2.  a  female  figure,  abracvra.  On  the 
right  of  the  father,  three  female  figures, 
with  the  inscription  over  them,  fata 
divina.  To  the  left,  three  other 
figures,  two  females,  with  the  names 
vibia  alcestis  ;  and  Mercury,  with 
the  name  mercvrivs  nvntivs. 

74.  The  three  Fates,  full  size*. 

75.  Coloured  title-page  for  the  mosaic 
picture  in  the  church  of  S.  Agnes  ; 
two  erect  figures,  with  the  nimbus, 
habited  as  priests. 

76.  Rude  figures  in  outline,  from  an 
arco-solium,  discovered  in  1849 ; 
pavlvs,  petrvs  (damaged),  with  a 
tower  between. 

77.  Two  busts ;  one  on  right,  sistvs, 
with  a  tower  between. 

78.  A  sheep  between  two  zebras. 

svsannae  seniori. 

79.  A  figure  with  a  laurel  crown,  under 
a  tree,  with  a  bird. 

the  ninth  century  among  the  illustra¬ 
tions  of  an  old  and  very  valuable  manu¬ 
script  of  the  Psalter  preserved  at  Utrecht. 


Engravings  of  Perrct. 


i/5 


80.  Two  figures,  presenting  palm- 
branches. 


81.  The  woman  of  Samaria  at  the  well. 

82.  Three  figures,  in  togas,  with  bare 
legs  and  feet. 

83.  Baptistery  of  S.  Valerian,  a  coloured 
plate  (ninth  century?),  three  figures. 


V 

R  S.  Urban, 
B  with  a 
A  jewelled 
N  book. 

u 

s 


The  Ma¬ 
donna, 
with 
Christ  as 
a  boy. 


s 

I  S.  John, 
O  with  a 

II  jewelled 
A  book. 
N 

I 

S 


84.  Three  heads.  In  the  centre  Christ, 
with  the  cruciform  nimbus  ;  on  his 
left  a  female  saint,  with  the  name 
in  Greek,  MITERTHEY  ;  on  his  right 
a  youthful  male  figure,  s.  smaragdvs 
(c.  A.  D.  800). 

85.  An  arch,  with  mouldings  and  pi¬ 
lasters,  which  have  rudely-sculptured 
capitals. 


VOL.  II. 

VIA  NOMENTANA. 

S.  Agnes. 

1.  Coloured  title-page  for  this  cata¬ 
comb.  Figure  of  S.  Agnes,  from 
the  mosaic  picture  in  her  church. 

2.  Entrance  to  the  catacomb,  with  a 
view  of  the  country. 

3.  Plan  of  the  catacomb  of  S.  Agnes. 

4.  Plan  of  a  chapel  called  that  of  the 
Virgin. 

5.  View  of  an  arco-solium,  with  figure 
of  the  Madonna,  and  head  of  Christ 
as  a  boy  (mutilated),  c.  a.d.  800. 

6.  The  same,  large  and  restored. 

7.  A  male  and  a  female  orante,  restored. 

8.  Plan  of  a  large  chapel,  discovered 
in  1842. 

9.  Section  of  the  same,  longitudinal. 

10.  Section  of  the  same,  transverse. 

1 1.  View  of  the  same. 

12.  View  in  part,  called  the  Hall  of 
the  Women. 

13.  Plan  of  a  crypt  of  two  chambers, 
connected  by  a  passage ;  in  one  are 
two  seats,  in  the  other  a  third  seat. 


14.  View  in  the  crypt,  with  three  seats, 
shewing  two  of  them. 

15.  View  in  another  part  of  the  same 
crypt,  with  two  shelves  or  niches 
called  credences  (?). 

16.  Plan  of  another  chapel,  with  a  ves¬ 
tibule  and  two  seats. 

17.  View  in  the  same,  looking  towards 
the  altar,  and  shewing  one  of  the  seats. 

18.  View  in  the  vestibule,  shewing  a 
seat  and  two  credences  (?). 

19.  Plan  of  a  crypt,  discovered  in  1849. 

20.  View  in  the  crypt  discovered  in 
1849,  shewing  two  pilasters  or  half 
columns. 

21.  Plan  of  a  chapel  called  of  Christ 
in  the  ?nidst  of  His  Disciples. 

22.  Painted  vault  of  the  same  chapel  or 
burial-chamber  (cubiculum).  In  the 
centre,  the  Good  Shepherd,  with  a 
lamb  on  His  shoulders,  a  vase  on  each 
side,  and  a  bird  against  one  of  them, 
surrounded  by  other  birds.  Round 
the  sides  of  the  vault :  Adam  and  Eve, 
Moses  striking  the  rock,  Jonah  under 
the  gourd,  an  orante,  birds  in  the  cor¬ 
ners,  and  vases  of  flowers  between. 

23.  An  arco-solium,  or  recess  in  the 
wall  of  the  same  chamber,  with  out¬ 
line  of  painting  under  the  arch. 

24.  Painting  of  Christ  and  His  Dis¬ 
ciples,  all  seated  ;  attired  in  surplice 
and  stole,  some  of  these  red,  others 
green. 

25.  The  Good  Shepherd,  in  colour. 

26.  Adam  and  Eve,  in  outline. 

27.  An  orante,  a  bird,  Moses,  in  colour. 

28.  Jonah  under  the  gourd,  in  colour. 

29.  Plan  of  a  chapel  called  of  the  Agape. 
This  chapel  is  double,  or  in  two  parts, 
with  a  road,  street,  or  corridor  be¬ 
tween. 

30.  Painted  vault  of  the  chapel  called 
the  Agape.  In  the  centre,  Christ  with 
two  baskets  of  rolls  of  parchment. 
On  each  of  the  four  sides,  a  shepherd 
with  two  sheep,  between  the  smaller 
figures  of  Moses  and  Samson. 

31.  View  in  the  same  chapel  (in  colour), 
side  of  the  credence. 


176 


Appendix  to  the  Catacombs. 


32.  The  figure  of  Christ,  with  two 
baskets ;  in  outline. 

33.  Figure  of  Moses  striking  the  rock, 
in  colour. 

34.  Figures,  in  outline,  of  Moses  taking 
off  his  shoes,  Samson  carrying  the 
gates. 

35.  A  view  in  the  same  chapel,  on  the 
right  side,  in  colour. 

36.  The  three  children  in  the  furnace, 
outline. 

37.  Perspective  view  of  the  same  chapel, 
left  side,  shewing  an  arco-solium  with 
painting  on  the  arch  and  on  the  wall ; 
Noah  and  Jonah. 

38.  Crypt  of  the  prudent  Virgins.  Plan 
and  sections. 

39.  View  of  an  arco-solium  in  the  same 
crypt,  in  colour.  1.  The  three  chil¬ 
dren  in  the  furnace  ;  2.  An  orante  ; 
3.  Jonah.  On  the  soffit  of  the  arch  : 

1.  Adam  and  Eve  ;  2.  Good  Shep¬ 
herd  ;  3.  Daniel. 

40.  The  Good  Shepherd,  in  colour. 

41.  Adam  and  Eve,  in  colour. 

42.  1.  The  five  prudent  Virgins  ;  2. 
Daniel,  in  colour. 

43.  Plan  and  section  of  the  Cubiculum 
called  the  Hall  of  the  female  Cate¬ 
chumens. 

44.  Another  plan  of  the  same. 

45.  Perspective  view  of  the  same,  outline. 

46.  Plan  and  section  of  a  family  vault. 

47.  I.  A  shepherdess  milking  a  sheep  ; 

2.  An  orante ;  3.  The  Good  Shep¬ 
herd. 

48.  King  Herod  seated  on  his  throne, 
with  the  star  over  his  head  ;  the  three 
Magi  addressing  him  (a  painting  dis¬ 
covered  in  1847). 

49.  Head  of  Christ,  from  a  terra-cotta 
bust. 

50.  Christ  seated  between  two  Apostles, 
with  a  book  in  His  left  hand,  His 
right  hand  elevated,  a  basket  of  rolls 
on  each  side  (a  painting  discovered 
in  1849  ;  eighth  century). 

51.  The  Good  Shepherd,  in  outline 
(a  painting  discovered  in  1849  ;  eighth 
century). 


52.  The  Good  Shepherd,  with  some 
sheep,  outline  (a  painting  discovered 
in  1850;  eighth  century). 

53.  Noah  in  the  Ark,  outline  (a  painting 
discovered  in  1850;  eighth  century). 

54.  Angle  of  three  galleries  or  corridors. 

VIA  LABICANA. 

SS.  Marcellinus  and  Peter. 

Restored  by  Hadrian,  A.  D.  772. 

55.  Title  -  page  ;  a  Good  Shepherd 
seated  with  a  crook  in  His  hand,  draw¬ 
ing  a  lamb  to  Him. 

56.  Entrance  to  the  cemetery  or  cata¬ 
comb,  with  view  of  the  tomb  of  S. 
Helena. 

57.  1.  A  woman  crowned ;  2.  An 

orante ;  both  attired  in  surplice  and 
stole. 

58.  A  man  and  a  boy,  both  orantes, 
and  head  of  a  female  crowned  with 
laurel-leaves,  in  colour. 

59.  A  Good  Shepherd,  with  his  reeds. 

60.  An  Agape,  love-feast,  or  funeral 
feast  (?) ;  three  figures  seated  and  two 
servants,  in  outline. 

61.  Painted  vault  of  a  chapel,  in  out¬ 
line.  In  the  centre,  a  Good  Shep¬ 
herd  with  his  sheep,  in  a  square  panel, 
with  heads  in  the  corners.  Round 
the  sides,  Noah  in  the  ark,  Abra¬ 
ham  and  Isaac,  Daniel  with  the  lions, 
the  raising  of  one  from  the  dead,  from 
a  tomb.  In  the  corners  four  goats. 

Catacomb  of  S.  Helena. 

Restored,  A.  D.  772. 

62.  Plan  and  longitudinal  section  of  the 
catacomb. 

63.  Mosaic  pavement  discoveredin  1838, 
Nos.  I  and  3  ;  in  colours. 

64.  Mosaic  pavement  discovered  in  1838, 
No.  2  ;  in  colours. 

65.  Mosaic  pavement  discovered  in  1838, 
Nos.  4  and  5  ;  in  colours. 

66.  The  four  Evangelists  in  outline.  The 
lower  parts  of  the  figures  and  the 
baskets  of  rolls  are  all  that  remain. 


Engravings  of  Ferret. 


1 77 


VOL.  III. 

General  Title-page  of  the  volume  ;  brick 
stamp  of  a  seal,  with  crown  and  olive- 
branch,  and  inscription  vantiorvm. 

VIA  SALARIA. 

Catacomb  of  S.  Priscilla. 

[The  style  of  drawing  of  the  figures  in 
these  frescoes  agrees  with  the  time 
of  the  restoration  by  John  I.,  A.  D. 
523-] 

1.  Title-page.  View  of  entrance  and 
the  Campagna. 

2.  Paintings  between  two  loculi ;  the 
slabs  or  tiles  have  been  removed.  On 
the  top  line — J  onah  and  the  whale  or 
sea-serpent,  Jonah  under  the  ivy-bush, 
Moses  striking  the  rock.  Second  line 
— birds  and  flowers.  Third  line — 
birds  and  flowers,  and  a  small  female 
head,  at  each  end  an  orante,  with 
a  stole  or  broad  hem  to  the  gar¬ 
ment  (?),  and  a  crown  with  a  veil 
over  it,  the  hand  uplifted  in  prayer. 

3.  The  orante  on  the  right  hand. 

4.  The  left-hand  orante. 

5.  Jonah  and  the  sea-serpent. 

6.  Moses  striking  the  rock  ;  [full  size, 
not  coloured. 

7.  Painting  on  a  loculus,  beginning  from 
the  left.  1.  Raising  of  Lazarus ;  2. 
An  orante,  with  the  word  gratia 
over  his  head  ;  3.  The  Three  Children 
in  the  furnace ;  4.  Daniel  and  the 
lions  ;  5.  Another  orante,  with  the 
words  over  his  head  bene  merenti. 

8.  Outline  of  painted  vault.  In  the 
centre,  the  Good  Shepherd,  surrounded 
by  wreaths  of  leaves  and  flowers  and 
birds,  with  a  goat  in  each  of  the  four 
corners. 

9.  An  orante  attired  in  a  red  robe,  with 
a  broad  black  border,  or  stole,  and 
black  borders  to  the  sleeves. 

10.  A  figure  in  a  yellow  tunic,  with 
green  border  and  four  large  round 
green  spots.  In  his  right  hand  he 
carries  a  roll,  in  his  left  a  book  spread 


open,  with  the  words  dormitii  SIL- 
vestri.  This  figure  is  said  to  be 
that  of  a  slave. 

11.  A  peacock,  with  the  tail  expanded  ; 
diaper  ornament  for  background. 

12.  Painting  over  an  altar  (?),  not  co¬ 
loured.  1.  sancta  prassede,  at¬ 
tired  in  a  robe  and  veil ;  in  her  left 
hand  a  cross,  in  her  right  a  crown. 
2.  SANCTVS  PETRVS,  attired  in  a  white 
flowing  robe  or  cope  (?),  the  dress 
marked  with  the  tau  cross ;  in  his 
hand  the  keys.  3.  sancta  pvden- 
tiana,  with  a  Latin  cross  in  her  left 
hand,  and  her  crown  in  her  right ;  at¬ 
tired  as  a  nun. 

13.  Three  female  figures,  in  colour,  over 
the  altar  in  the  crypt  of  the  Church  of 
S.  Prassede,  well  attired,  with  a  pro¬ 
fusion  of  bead  ornaments  ;  costume  of 
the  eighth  century.  In  the  centre,  the 
Madonna,  with  her  hand  uplifted  as 
blessing;  on  her  right,  S.Pudentiana, 
with  the  names  underneath ;  on  her 
left,  S.  Prassede,  each  with  her  crown. 
All  three  have  red  cloaks,  and  the 
rest  of  the  dress  resembles  that  of 
a  priest,  with  chasuble  and  pall  (?). 

SS.  Thrason  and  Saturninus. 

14.  Title-page  of  the  Cemetery.  In 
the  title  three  seals  :  I.  A  mother  and 
a  child  on  her  right,  not  a  Madonna. 
2.  A  sort  of  wheel  of  saints,  with  the 
Madonna  in  the  centre.  3.  maria, 
with  her  name  over  her  head.  On  her 
right  s.  PAVLVS ;  on  her  left  S.  pe- 
trvs  ;  on  each  shoulder  a  roll  of 
parchment  or  books,  all  enclosed  in  an 
engrailed  circle  ;  [tenth  century  (?)]. 

15.  Plan  of  a  second  cubiculum,  with 
skeletons,  and  a  figure  of  a  peacock 
(not  coloured),  tail  not  expanded. 

16.  View  in  the  painted  chamber,  shew¬ 
ing  the  vault  and  the  figures  under 
the  arch.  The  subjects  are  :  in  the 
arch,  the  Good  Shepherd,  with  two 
peacocks  and  four  other  birds  on  the 
vault,  and  on  the  wall  Jonah  and  the 
sea-serpent.  Under  the  arch,  a  group 


I7« 


Appendix  to  the  Catacombs. 


of  figures,  apparently  a  woman  preach¬ 
ing,  and  persons  seated  on  each  side  ; 
on  one  side,  a  mother  with  a  baby,  on 
the  other,  an  old  man  and  two  youths. 

17.  The  group  of  figures  on  a  larger 
scale.  The  interpretation  given  by 
Perret  is,  an  orante  with  virgins  on 
one  side,  and  Maternity  on  the  other  ; 
but  different  symbolical  meanings 
are  given  to  this  painting.  The 
painting  is  of  the  eighth  century. 
The  orante  has  a  veil  folded  like 
a  napkin  upon  her  head. 

18.  Maternity.  The  figure  in  outline. 

19.  The  orante  (as  before). 

20.  The  sacrifice  of  Abraham,  with  Isaac 
carrying  the  fagot. 

21.  A  peacock,  not  coloured. 

22.  Jonah  and  the  sea-serpent,  not 
coloured. 

23.  The  Good  Shepherd,  not  coloured, 
in  a  circular  border.  He  is  accom¬ 
panied  by  two  goats,  one  sheep,  and 
two  birds. 

24.  The  crowning  of  a  female  martyr 
by  two  male  saints. 

25.  An  orante,  with  two  figures  ad¬ 
dressing  her  on  one  side,  and  a  single 
figure  on  the  other  side,  who  appears 
to  be  listening,  and  has  just  come  out 
of  a  tent.  A  Greek  inscription  under 
it ;  not  coloured. 

26.  Tobit  and  the  angel,  with  the  fish  ; 
not  coloured. 

27.  Plan  and  'view  of  a  chapel,  with 
three  seats. 

28.  Perspective  view  of  the  same. 

29.  Plan  and  view  of  a  crypt. 

30.  Plan  and  view  of  another  crypt,  with 
columns. 

31.  Plan  and  section  of  a  crypt,  with 
loculi  and  a  cubiculum  with  paintings. 

SS.  Hermes  and  Basilla. 

32.  Title-page  of  the  Cemetery,  with 
the  marble  covering  of  a  well,  found 
in  the  crypt  of  S.  Protus  and  S.  Hya- 
cinthus. 

33.  Plan  and  section  of  the  church  of 
S.  Hermes  at  the  entrance  to  the 
catacomb. 


34.  View  in  the  same  church,  shewing 
the  brick  construction. 

35.  Painting  of  Christ  and  the  twelve 
Apostles,  seated  in  a  semicircle,  at¬ 
tired  in  surplices  (?). 

36.  Mosaic  picture  in  the  crypt  of  S. 
Protus  and  S.  Hyacinthus,  represent¬ 
ing  Daniel  and  the  lions,  and  the 
resurrection  of  Lazarus  (in  outline 
only),  A.  D.  629. 

VIA  TIBURTINA. 

S.  Cyriaca. 

37.  Title-page  of  the  Cemetery.  View 
of  entrance  to  the  catacomb. 

38.  Three  figures  in  colour. 

SCA  CYRIACE  MR.  OV.  SCA  CATHARINA. 
(Eighth  century. )  The  picture  was  dis¬ 
covered  in  1848.  All  three  have  the 
nimbus. 

39.  Sca  Cecilia,  head  and  bust,  with 
her  crown.  She  is  richly  attired  in 
yellow  and  green,  with  pearl  orna¬ 
ments,  and  carries  a  coffer.  This 
painting  was  discovered  in  1848. 

40.  A  female  saint,  richly  attired,  with 
bead  ornaments,  carrying  a  coffer  or 
offering. 

41.  Outline  of  a  bird  and  a  fish. 

42.  The  Madonna,  with  Christ  as  a  boy, 
and  five  saints.  All  have  the  nimbus. 

43.  Christ  seated  between  two  saints, 
also  seated  ;  a  part  in  outline  only. 
[The  figures  on  these  two  pictures  are 

in  theatrical  attitudes,  and  of  late  cha¬ 
racter.] 

44.  Head  of  a  female  saint,  in  colours  ; 
[eighth  or  ninth  century,  if  not  later.  ] 

45.  Three  loculi,  with  the  tiles  left  in 
their  places.  1.  On  the  upper  one 
a  brick  stamp  and  a  lamp.  2.  A 
second  loculus,  with  one  of  the  tiles 
removed,  shewing  a  skeleton  and  two 
palm-branches.  3.  An  inscription  on 
a  loculus,  with  the-Constantinian  mo¬ 
nogram,  the  anchor,  the  dove  and 
olive-branch,  and  a  palm-branch.  In¬ 
scription — 

CYRIACAE  DVLCISSIMAE  DEPOSITE 
IN  PACE  VIXIT  ANNOS  XXXV. 

IDIDVS  MARTIIS 

(This  plate  appears  to  be  made  up. ) 


Engravings  of  Ferret. 


179 


46.  A  female  orante,  with  two  male 
persons  addressing  her. 

47.  Plan  of  a  crypt. 

48.  Perspective  view  in  the  crypt,  an 
arco-solium  with  five  loculi. 


49.  Title-page  of  the  Cemetery  of  S. 
Pontianus,  with  the  font  in  the  crypt 
of  the  church  of  S.  Prisca,  made  out 
of  the  capital  and  base  of  an  antique 
column. 

50.  Plan  of  the  baptistery  of  this  cata¬ 
comb,  with  the  steps  down  to  it  and 
the  well. 

51.  Section  of  the  baptistery  and  steps. 

52.  View  in  the  baptistery,  shewing  the 
paintings  of  the  baptism  of  Christ  and 
the  jewelled  cross. 

53.  Head  of  Christ,  with  a  cruciform 
nimbus  jewelled,  and  a  book  in  His 
hand,  with  the  word  DOMINVS ;  not 
coloured. 

54.  Another  head  of  Christ  near  the  bap¬ 
tistery,  in  colours  similar  to  the  last. 

55.  Baptism  of  Christ,  in  outline. 

56.  Christ  putting  the  laurel  crowns  on 
the  heads  of  SS.  Abdon  and  Sennen, 
with  two  other  saints  looking  on  and 
admiring ;  over  one  bicclivs,  the 
other  name  is  not  legible. 

57.  The  jewelled  cross,  in  colours. 

58.  Figures  of  three  saints,  in  colour. 


scs 

SCS 

SCS 

MAR 

POL 

PE 

CEL 

LI 

TR 

LI 

ON 

VS 

NVS 

(The 

S.  Pollion  has  the  crown  of  martyr¬ 


dom.  All  are  attired  in  surplice  and 
stole. 


59.  scs  miles,  scs  pvmenivs.  Heads 
and  busts,  with  the  jewelled  cross 
between  them. 

[All  the  paintings  in  this  catacomb 
are  of  the  time  of  the  restoration  by 
Hadrian  L,  A.  D.  772.] 


VOL.  IV. 

1.  Title-page,  with  the  Constantinian 
monogram  in  bronze  from  the  Vatican 

N 


2.  A  bronze  lamp  in  the  museum  at 
Florence. 

3.  Vases  in  terra-cotta. 

4.  Marble  statue  of  the  Good  Shepherd. 

5.  Bronze  lamps. 

6.  Vases  in  terra-cotta. 

7.  Lamps  and  other  objects  in  terra¬ 
cotta. 

8.  Children’s  toys. 

9.  Lamps  in  terra-cotta. 

10.  Vases  of  copper. 

11.  Various  bronze  objects. 

12.  Various  objects. 

13.  Lamps  in  terra-cotta. 

14.  Bronze  instruments. 

1 5.  Lamps  in  terra-cotta. 

16.  Antique  gems,  with  Christian  em¬ 
blems. 

17.  Lamps  and  other  objects  in  terra¬ 
cotta. 

18.  Glass  ampullae,  graffiti  in  plaster  of 
palm-branches  and  names. 

19.  Lamps  in  terra-cotta. 

20.  Brick  stamps  and  other  objects. 

21.  Coloured  glass  vases. 

22.  Gilt  glass  vases  from  the  Vatican 
museum. 

23.  24,  25,  26,  27,  28,  29,  30,  31,  32, 
33.  Fragments  of  gilt  glass  vases. 

VOL.  V. 

Vol.  V.  contains  inscriptions,  figures,  and 
symbols,  on  jewels  or  stones. 

1  to  38  inclusive. — From  the  Vatican 
museum  or  gallery. 

39.  - from  different  churches, 

40.  A  sarcophagus,  with  shallow  sculp¬ 
ture,  from  the  Vatican  gallery. 

41.  Inscriptions  from  the  Vatican  depot 
and  from  Anagni, 

42.  Inscriptions  and  incised  figures  from 
the  churches  of  S.  Prassede,  S.  Puden- 
tiana,  &c. 

43  to  52. - from  the  Kircherian  Mu¬ 

seum  (chiefly  of  the  fourth  and  fifth 
centuries). 

53 — 55-  - from  the  catacomb  and 

church  of  S.  Agnes. 

5^*  57- - from  catacomb  of  S.  Sixtus. 

2 


museum. 


i8o 


Appendix  to  the  Catacombs. 


58 — 60.  Inscriptions  from  the  cloister 
of  S.  Paul’s. 

61 — 63. - from  S.  Apollinaris  (fourth 

and  fifth  centuries). 

64.  - from  the  Quirinal  (fourth  cen¬ 

tury). 

65 — 67.  - from  Velletri  (fourth  cen¬ 

tury  and  later). 

68,  69.  Inscriptions  and  incised  figures 
from  S.  Lorenzo. 

70,  71. - from  S.  Maria  in  Trastevere. 

72.  - from  the  Villa  Albani. 


73.  Inscriptions  from  various  places 
(fourth  century  and  later). 

74.  -  from  the  crypt  of  the  Vatican 

(fourth  century). 

75.  - from  the  Palace  Challais. 

76.  - from  Civita  Vecchia,  S.  Calix- 

tus,  and  S.  Mark. 

77.  78.  - from  various  places. 

VOL.  VI.  contains  the  letterpress  de¬ 
scription  of  the  plates. 


It  is  the  fashion  in  Rome  to  depreciate  this  great  work  of  Perret’s 
rather  more  than  it  deserves.  The  drawings  are  not  always  accurate  5 
they  are  the  work  of  young  French  artists  from  the  Academie,  made 
under  the  direction  of  M.  Perret,  a  French  architect.  The  style  of 
drawing  is  rather  more  French  and  theatrical  than  suits  the  English 
taste ;  but  in  some  instances  the  outlines  were  traced ,  and  it  is  the 
colouring  only  that  is  too  fresh  and  gay.  There  is  every  reason 
to  believe  that  the  intention  of  M.  Perret,  and  of  the  French  Govern¬ 
ment  which  supported  him,  was  to  make  his  work  as  accurate  as 
possible,  and  great  allowance  should  be  made  for  the  difficulty  of 
drawing  in  the  Catacombs  with  the  light  of  wax  tapers  only.  At  the 
time  these  drawings  were  made,  neither  Photography  nor  Magnesium 
for  light  had  been  discovered.  The  use  of  these  new  inventions  is 
now,  in  1870,  prohibited  by  the  Cardinal  Vicar  in  the  name  of  the 
Pope.  It  is  hardly  probable  that  the  great  work  projected  by  Signor 
de  Rossi,  of  which  the  first  two  volumes  only  have  appeared,  can 
ever  be  completed.  M.  Perret’s  work  is  therefore  likely  to  remain,  for 
a  long  time  to  come,  the  most  complete  set  of  drawings  from  the 
Catacombs  that  we  possess ;  and  a  careless  drawing  is  better  than 
none  at  all,  especially  as  there  is  no  occasion  to  suspect  dishonesty, 
or  any  intention  either  to  deceive,  or  to  conceal  anything. 


ENGRAVINGS  OF  DE  ROSSI u, 


“  Roma  Sotterranea  Cristiana.” 

Volume  I. 

Catacombs  of  S.  Calixtus  and  Lucina. — In  vol.  i.  plate  i,  is  a  repre¬ 
sentation  of  the  tomb  or  chapel,  of  the  first  century,  at  the  entrance  to  the 
catacombs  of  Lucina  and  Cornelius,  which  form  part  of  the  great  Cemetery  of 
S.  Calixtus.  This  building,  the  remains  of  which  are  of  plain  early  brickwork, 
stands  at  the  top  of  the  flight  of  steps  leading  down  into  the  catacomb,  on  the 
bank  above  the  Via  Appia. 

Crypt  of  S.  Cornelius  in  the  Catacomb  of  S.  Calixtus. — Paintings  ot 
lambs  and  of  birds  executed  in  blue  ochre  are  represented  (vol.  i.  plate  12). 
Other  paintings,  of  an  orante,  heads  of  cherubs,  figures  of  Sixtus  II.  and  Attalus, 
a  bishop,  SS.  Cornelius  and  Cyprianus, — all  these  are  chiefly  painted  in  red  and 
brown  ochre,  in  the  style  of  the  eighth  century  (vol.  i.  plates  6,  7,  11). 

A  general  view  of  a  part  of  a  corridor,  shewing  the  position  of  the  paintings, 
is  also  given  in  plate  5.  All  these  belong  to  the  restorations  of  Hadrian  I., 
A.  D.  772. 

Crypt  of  Cornelius. — A  plan  and  elevation  of  part  of  this  catacomb  is 
given  in  plates  2  and  3,  remains  of  paintings  (plates  8,  9,  11 — 14),  and  a  good 
painted  vault,  with  orantes  and  a  figure  (plate  10)  closely  resembling  a  Pagan 
genius.  This  may  be  of  the  fourth  century,  and  not  part  of  the  restoration. 

Crypt  of  Lucina  (in  the  Catacomb  of  S.  Calixtus). — A  series  of  in¬ 
scriptions  on  the  slabs  of  loculi  and  on  sarcophagi  found  in  this  catacomb.  Some 
of  these  are  in  the  Greek  characters,  which  is  very  frequently  the  case  in  Rome  in 
the  third  and  fourth  centuries  ;  the  fragments  of  the  stone  coffins  and  the  remains 
of  sculpture  belong  to  the  latter  period  (vol.  i.  plates  19 — 31).  A  plan  and  eleva¬ 
tion  of  it  is  also  given  (plates  32,  33),  and  a  view  of  a  painted  corridor  (plate  7) 
and  of  a  cubiculum,  with  painted  vault  (plate  11). 

Roma,  1864-67,  folio,  2  vols. 


U 


182 


Appendix  to  the  Catacombs. 


De  Rossi — In  the  second  volume  : — 

Plates  i  and  la. — Crypt  of  the  Bishops  of  Rome  or  Popes  (?),  in  the  catacomb 
of  S.  Calixtus.  The  marble  columns,  with  twisted  fluting,  are  of  the  character  of 
the  fourth  century. 

Plates  2,  3,  and  4. — Inscriptions  of  Damasus,  a.d.  367(?),  or  of  Sixtus  III., 
A,  d.  432  (?)  x,  and  in  the  catacomb  of  S.  Eusebius. 

Plate  5. — Cemetery  of  S.  Cecilia,  bricks  wide-jointed — (modem  restoration). 
Paintings  of  saints  and  lantern,  or  luminary — eighth  or  ninth  century. 

Plate  6. — Same  cemetery,  paintings  of  Head  of  Christ,  S.  Urban,  S.  Cecilia. 

Plate  7. — Figures  in  outline  of  SS.  Policamus,  Sebastianus,  Curinus. 

Plate  8. — Same  cemetery,  painting  and  inscription  of  Damasus. 

Plates  9 — 13. — Views  in  cubicula  of  the  same  cemetery.  Perhaps  some  of 
these  are  of  the  fourth  or  fifth  century ;  but  some  appear  to  be  painted  on 
plaster,  covering  brick  walls  of  the  eighth  century. 

Plates  14 — 17. — Paintings  of  Jonah,  &c.,  of  the  usual  character. 

Plate  18. — Orpheus,  on  the  wall ;  the  Good  Shepherd,  on  the  vault ;  birds, 
flowers,  genii,  and  a  feast. 

Plate  19. — Arco-solia,  with  paintings. 

Plate  20.  — Paintings  of  the  same,  larger  ;  the  Good  Shepherd,  an  orante,  Daniel, 
Jonah,  birds,  flowers. 

Plate  21. — Group  of  figures  from  the  same,  one  preaching. 

Plate  22. — Arco-solium.  Painting  developed  ;  patterns  and  festoons  of  flowers, 
a  figure  in  a  circle,  mutilated — third  century  (?). 

Plate  23. — A  cubiculum  with  sarcophagus  and  painting. 

Plates  24,  25. — Paintings  developed;  Lazarus,  birds,  flowers,  nymphs. 

Plate  26. — A  view  in  a  cubiculum. 

Plates  27,  28. — These  paintings  are  early,  probably  of  the  third  century  ;  but  the 
subjects  are  not  Christian.  They  represent  a  garden,  with  trellis-work  ;  birds,  in¬ 
cluding  peacocks,  and  with  winged  genii.  The  cubiculum  on  which  they  occur  is 
called  that  of  the  Ocean,  from  the  head  of  Ocean  painted  in  the  centre  of  the  vault. 

Plate  29. — Arco-solium,  with  paintings  of  the  fourth  century,  or  later. 

Plate  30. — Graffiti. 

Plates  31 — 50. — Inscriptions  of  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  centuries. 

Plates  51,  52. — Elevations. 

Plates  53,  54. — Plans. 

Plates  55 — 58. — Inscriptions. 

Plates  59 — 62. — Plans. 

Plates  A  and  B. — Supplementary  paintings  ;  the  Good  Shepherd,  Moses,  &c. 

Plates  C  and  D. — Elevations. 


x  See  Sect.  iv. 


HISTORICAL  PHOTOGRAPHS  ILLUSTRATIVE  OF 
THE  CATACOMBS. 

From  Mr.  Parker’s  Collection  made  to  Illustrate  this  Work  y. 


[  The  number  of  the  Photograph  is  given  at  the  end  of  each  paragraph .] 


I.  Chronology  (pp.  14  to  24). 
Early  Tombstone  with  Greek  Cross 
under  a  round  Arch,  and  Inscription 
from  S.  Cyriaca,  c.  a.d.  300.  442 

S.  Agnes — Inscriptions  on  Tombstones, 
built  into  the  wall  of  the  staircase  of 
the  Church.  1594,  1595 

S.  Calixtus— Inscriptions  of  Pope  Da- 
masus,  I.  over  the  Altar  in  the  Chapel 
of  the  Popes ;  2.  in  the  Chapel  of  S. 
Eusebius.  1 795,  1811 

II.  The  Martyrs  (pp.  25  to  35). 

In  S.  Calixtus — Inscriptions  on  the 
Tombs  of  the  Bishops  or  Popes. 


Anteros,  A.D.  236.  1797 

Fabianus,  A.D.  249.  1798 

S.  Cornelius,  A.D.  253.  1799 

Eutychianus,  A.D.  283.  1796 

In  S.  Agnes.  Maximus.  1596 

In  S.  Prsetextatus.  Januarius.  1821 


III.  Chapels  of  the  Martyrs 
(pp.  36  to  46). 

S.  Sebastian — Section  and  Plan  of  the 
Crypt  or  Platonia.  483,  484 

Ancient  Chapels  at  the  Entrance 
to  the  Catacomb,  c.  a.d.  350 (?),  and 
772.  285,  286,  287,  288 

y  These  may  be  seen  in  the  Ashmolean 
Museum  and  the  Bodleian  Library,  Ox- 


IV.  Construction  (pp.  38  to  46). 

A  NaturaTSection  of  part  of  the  Cata¬ 
comb  of  S.  Cyriaca,  in  the  burial- 
ground  of  S.  Lorenzo  f.  m.,  in  three 
parts,  shewing  an  arco-solium,  or 
place  for  a  Sarcophagus,  with  paint¬ 
ings  in  the  arch,  and  the  junction  at 
an  angle  of  two  corridors,  with  the 
loculi,  or  graves  in  the  walls. 

1131,  1132,  1133 
S.  Agnes — Cubiculum,  with  Columns, 
and  place  for  the  Altar.  626 

S.  Praetextatus — A  Brick  Cornice  and 
Wall  of  the  first  century,  with  another 
wall  of  the  fourth,  of  stone  and  brick, 
built  up  against  it,  and  a  Brick  Arch 
of  the  second.  1618,  1619,  1620 
S.  Domitilla — Brickwork  of  the  first 
century,  at  the  Entrance.  620 

S.  Pontianus — Corridor  and  Staircase 
at  the  entrance,  restored  A.D.  858 — 
867,  by  Pope  Nicholas.  61 1 

S.  Cyriaca — Corridor  with  Loculi.  1 282 
S.  Praetextatus — Doorway  and  Loculi 
of  early  character.  1621 

S.  Generosa — Well  at  the  Entrance. 

1224 


ford,  and  the  Library  of  the  South 
Kensington  Museum,  London. 


Appendix  to  the  Catacombs. 


184 


V.  Via  Cornelia,  Aurelia,  and 
Portuensis  (pp.  56  to  67). 

Fresco  Paintings  r. 

S.  Pontianus. 

Head  of  Christ,  a.d.  858 — 867.  607  A 
The  same,  fro7n  Perret’s  Drawings. 

463,  607  B 

Baptism  of  Christ,  A.D.  858 — 867. 

608  A 

- from  Perret’s  Drawing.  608  B 

Painting  of  a  Jewelled  Cross,  a.d. 
858 — 867.  609  A 

- from  Perret’s  Drawing.  609  B 

Painting  of  SS.  Marcellinus,  Pol- 
lion,  and  Petrus,  a.d. 858 — 867.  610 A 
- from  Perret’s  Drawing.  6 1 0  B 

Christ  crowning  S.  Abdon  and  S. 
Sennen,  w  ith  figures  of  S.  Milex  and 
S.  Bicelus,  A.D.  858 — 867,  from  Per¬ 
ret’s  Drawing.  47 1 

Jewelled  Cross  and  two  Saints, 
S.  Miles  and  S.  Pymenius,  A.D.  858 
— 867,  from  Per  refs  Drawing.  474 

S.  Generosa, 

At  the  College  of  the  Arvales. 

A  Loculus  or  Tomb  cut  in  the  rock 
and  left  unopened.  The  aperture 
is  covered  by  three  tiles  fixed  with 
plaster,  and  in  the  plaster  are  graffiti 
or  inscriptions  scratched  in  the  plaster 
when  wet,  of  the  fourth  or  fifth 
century.  1222 

Another  Tomb  unopened,  with  the 
tiles  and  graffiti  on  the  plaster.  1223 
Loculi,  with  the  bones  remaining 
in  them,  c.  a.d.  500.  1183 

Head  of  Christ  from  the  painting 
in  fresco,  c.  a.d.  600.  1159 


VI.  Via  Ostiensis,  Ardeatina, 
Appia,  Latina  (pp.  68  to  91). 

S.  Domitilla — Brickwork,  c.  A.D.  100, 
with  a  Well  and  a  Vase(?)  or  Font(?), 
called  a  Baptistery,  at  the  entrance. 
This  Catacomb  is  part  of  the  great 
one  called  SS.  Nereus  and  Achilleus. 

621 

Well  near  the  entrance.  1610, 1819 
Cubiculum,  with  Fresco  Paintings 
of  the  Four  Seasons,  c.  a.d.  25o(?), 
Spring  and  Autumn.  618,619, 1820 
The  Adoration  of  the  Magi,  A.D. 
523,  from  Perret’s  Drawing.  465 
The  Madonna,  a.d.  523,y9w«  Per¬ 
ret’s  Drawing.  466 

SS.  Nereus  and  Achilleus. 

A  Christian  Sarcophagus,  at  the  en¬ 
trance  to  the  Catacomb.  1815 

Pagan  Inscription  of  Tiberius  Clau¬ 
dius  Claudianus,  found  there.  1817 
Christian  Inscription,  written  on 
the  reverse  of  that  of  Tiberius  Clau¬ 
dius  Claudianus,  /EMILIO,  etc.  1818 
Tombstone,  with  Inscription,  c.  A.D. 
320,  CERONTI  VIBAS  IN  DEO.  l6l 7 
Loculus,  unopened.  The  aperture 
is  covered  by  a  tile,  on  which  is 
rudely  painted  an  inscription, 
IANVARIVS  COIVCI  FECIT, 
with  a  palm-branch  at  each  end.  16 1 1 

Painted  Chamber,  A.  D.  523.  The 
ceiling  is  flat  and  painted  in  panels, 
with  birds  and  flowers ;  under  the 
arch  of  the  cubiculum  is  a  vase  with 
two  birds  and  two  palm-branches. 
The  flat  soffit  of  the  arch  is  also 
painted  in  panels.  1615 


z  The  Fresco  Paintings  in  the  Cata-  the  frescoes.  All  that  was  important 
combs  are  taken  with  the  magnesian  had  been  taken  before  this  order  was 
light,  which  has  an  appearance  similar  issued.  A  few  of  the  same  subjects 
to  moonlight.  The  Cardinal-Vicar,  who  have  also  been  taken  from  Perret’s 
acts  in  the  name  of  the  Pope,  has  now  drawings,  to  shew  how  much  the  rno- 
(in  1870)  forbidden  any  more  to  be  dern  artists  have  developed  and  im- 
taken,  on  the  pretext  that  the  smoke  proved  upon  the  originals, 
from  the  magnesian  lamp  might  injure 


Photographs . 


185 


SS.  Nereus,  &c.,  continued. 

The  Good  Shepherd.  The  figure 
is  represented  in  shepherd’s  dress, 
with  a  lamb  on  his  shoulders,  and 
two  sheep  at  his  feet,  with  flowers  in 
the  usual  manner.  1616 

The  Adoration  of  the  Magi.  The 
Madonna  is  seated,  with  her  right 
hand  uplifted ;  on  her  left  Christ  is 
represented  not  as  an  infant,  but  as 
a  boy,  as  at  Ravenna,  and  other 
Byzantine  examples.  There  are  four 
Magi,  two  on  either  side,  in  order  to 
complete  the  picture  and  fill  the  space 
under  the  arch  of  a  cubiculum.  The 
Magi  wear  the  Phrygian  cap,  and 
have  offerings  in  their  hands.  1613 
A  Feast  or  Agape.  This  may  re¬ 
present  the  Last  Supper,  as  is  usual, 
but  it  appears  more  like  a  family 
feast ;  some  of  the  heads  appear  to 
be  those  of  mere  boys.  It  is  under 
the  arch  of  a  cubiculum.  1614 

The  head  of  a  youth,  in  a  circular 
frame,  probably  a  portrait  of  the 
defunct.  1609 

An  Orante,  with  a  sheep.  1816 
A  group  of  figures,  to  whom  one 
is  preaching.  1612 

S.  Pr^etextatus. 

Plan  and  Section  of  a  Corridor.  744 
Brickwork  and  Doorway  at  the 
Original  Entrance,  c.  A.D.  100.  616 

Fragment  of  a  Sarcophagus  with 
Bas-relief,  and  Painted  Vault  of 
Chapel,  c.  a.d.  200.  614,  615 

The  Cultivation  of  the  Vine.  1822 

The  Gnostics  (?),  or  Worshippers  of 
the  Persian  God  Mithras. 

Fresco  Paintings,  1.  a  Warrior 
kneeling,  and  a  woman  crowned 
with  laurel,  and  of  a  Man  raising 
a  dead  Lamb  and  pointing  to  some 
Stars  in  the  Heaven  ;  2.  Seven  priests 
of  Mithras  seated  at  a  table  (septe 
pii  sacerdotes).  In  the  centre  is 
the  priest  vincentivs.  He  and  two 
others  wear  the  Phrygian  cap.  This 


The  Gnostics,  continued. 

Catacomb  was  in  .  communication 
with  that  of  Praetextatus  on  the  Via 
Appia.  1791,  1794 

Arch,  with  an  Inscription  over  a 
Cubiculum  (not  now  legible).  1623 
A  Warrior  holding  a  lance,  be¬ 
tween  a  Genius  and  a  Man.  1792 
Four  figures  engaged  in  some  cere¬ 
monial  (very  indistinct),  fourth  cen- 
rury  (?)  or  later(?).  1281 

Fresco.  The  good  angel  introduc¬ 
ing  a  woman,  called  Vibia,  to  several 
persons.  Over  them  is  written  in- 
ductio  vibies.  Under  the  Arch  are 
six  figures,  with  Vibia  in  the  centre, 
and  over  their  heads  the  inscription 
BONORUM  IVDICIO  IVDICATI.  1 793 

S.  Calixtus. 

The  Cover  of  the  largest  marble  Sarco¬ 
phagus  discovered  in  the  Catacombs, 
said  to  be  that  of  Pope  Zephyrinus, 
a.d.  218.  1810 

Sarcophagus,  the  sculpture  repre¬ 
senting  Genii,  the  Resurrection  of 
Lazarus,  and  Daniel  in  the  Lions’ 
Den.  1807 

Fresco  Paintings  of  the  Seasons,  in 
a  Cubiculum.  1808,  1809 

Chapel  of  the  Sacraments.  A  fossor, 
or  grave-digger,  Abraham  and  Isaac 
in  attitudes  of  prayer,  a  ram,  and 
a  bundle  of  firewood.  1 806 

A  figure  seated  holding  a  scroll, 
and  another  figure  drawing  water 
from  a  well,  said  to  be  Christ  and 
the  woman  of  Samaria.  1801 

History  of  Jonah,  I.  coming  out 
of  the  mouth  of  the  sea-serpent  (or 
whale);  2.  thrown  by  the  sailors  into 
the  sea.  1802,  1803 

Seven  figures  upon  a  tricliniar  bed. 
There  are  two  dishes  with  fish,  and 
eight  baskets  loaded  with  bread.  1 804 
A  fossor,  or  grave-digger.  In  an¬ 
other  part  of  the  picture  a  small 
table,  or  tripod,  upon  which  is  a  dish 
with  fish  and  bread.  A  man,  Christ, 


1 86 


Appendix  to  the  Catacombs . 


S.  Calixtus,  continued. 
after  the  Resurrection  (?),  extends  the 
right  hand  over  the  fish,  and  on  the 
other  side  is  a  female  figure  in  the 
attitude  of  prayer.  The  Church  (?). 

1805 

An  Orante  said  to  be  S.  Csecilia 
(ninth  century),  of  our  Saviour  and 
of  S.  Urban,  Pope,  with  the  Inscrip¬ 
tion  SCS  VRBANVS.  iSoO 

Figures  of  S.  Cornelius,  Pope  and 
Martyr,  S.  Xystus  II.,  Pope  (scs 
xystvs  PP  ROM),  and  of  S.Optatus, 
Bishop.  1813,  1814 

VII.  Via  Labicana,  Nomentana, 
Tiburtina. 

SS.  Peter  and  Marcellinus. 

The  Adoration  of  the  Magi,  a.d.  772 — 
775,  from  Ferret's  Drawing.  627  c 
Adoration  of  the  Magi.  Two  of 
the  Magi  only  are  shewn,  there  not 
being  room  for  more.  2116 

An  Agape  or  Commemorative 
Love  Feast,  with  the  names  over  the 
heads  of  the  figures.  2117 

An  Agape  with  this  inscription, 
agape  .  miser  nobis.  There  are 
two  children  at  the  table.  2118 

Christ  seated  between  two  Apo¬ 
stles  (?),  standing  and  addressing 
Him.  He  has  the  nimbus,  they  have 
not ;  their  dress  resembles  the  sur¬ 
plice  and  stole.  At  the  foot  is  the 
Holy  Lamb  standing  on  Calvary, 
with  other  Apostles  (?).  2119 

A  female  Orante,  with  two  mem¬ 
bers  of  her  family,  a.d.  772(?).  2115 

S.  Agnes. 

Paintings  of  an  Orante,  with  the  Good 
Shepherd,  a.d.  772 — 775.  628 

The  Blessed  Virgin  and  Child, 
a.d.  772— 775.  627  a 

— —  from  Ferret's  Drawing.  627  B 

S.  Cyriaca. 

A  female  Saint,  richly  attired  and 
crowned,  a.d.  772 — 795 ,  from  Perret' s 
Drawing.  468 


S.  Cyriaca,  continued. 
Madonna,  and  S.  Catharine,  c.  A.D, 
772 — 795,  from  Perref  s  Drawing.  479 
Figure  of  S.  Caecilia,  a.d.  772 — 
795,  from  Perret' s  Drawing.  472 

Three  Loculi,  closed  with  Tiles  : 
1.  With  Stamp  and  small  Vase;  2. 
With  Skeleton  and  Palm-branches ; 
3.  With  Inscription,  the  Labarum  of 
Constantine,  an  Anchor,  a  Dove  with 
Palm-branch,  from  Perret' s  Drawing. 

481 

A  Painted  Vault,  from  Perret' s 
Drawing.  482 

Tombstone  of  Antonia  Cyriace, 
with  a  dove  and  olive-branch  on  each 
side  of  the  name,  c.  a.d.  250,  taken 
from  this  Catacomb  and  built  into 
the  wall  of  the  Church  of  S.  Giorgio 
in  Velabro.  1257 

Three  Skulls,  and  a  brick  stamp 
found  with  them,  with  inscription — 
Of( ficina)  s(exti)  DOMI (tii)  satvr- 
NINI  [A.D.  264?].  1283 

S.  Hermes. 

Fragment  of  Mosaic  Picture  repre¬ 
senting  Daniel  in  the  Lions’  Den, 
a.d.  577,  the  only  Mosaic  Pic¬ 
ture  now  remaining  in  the  Cata¬ 
combs.  629 

VIII.  Via  Salaria  Vecchia,  and 
Nova  (pp.  108  to  118). 

SS.  Saturninus  and  Thrason — 
Paintings  in  the  lowest  story,  of  the 
time  of  Pope  Hadrian  I.,  a.d.  772 — 
795.  1751 

Three  Loculi,  with  Paintings  of 
Jonah,  Moses  striking  the  Rock,  bird 
with  foliage,  and  two  female  Orantes, 
from  Perret' s  Drawing.  467 

An  Orante,  a  lady  richly  attired, 
with  lace  borders  and  a  veil,  a.d. 
772—795.  1774 

- from  Perret' s  Drawing.  475 

Another  Orante,  a.d.  772 — 795. 

1775 

- from  Perret' s  Drawing.  476 


Photographs. 


187 


SS.  Saturninus,  &c.,  continued. 

Head  of  the  defunct,  with  a  Bird 
and  Flowers,  a.d.  772.  1752 

Jonah  under  the  ivy-bush  (accord¬ 
ing  to  the  Vulgate  version,  the  gourd 
in  the  English  version),  A.D.  772 — 
795.  1777 

Moses  striking  the  rock,  A.D.  772 
— 795.  1776 

The  Good  Shepherd,  and  a  Figure 
holding  a  Scroll  or  Book,  with  the 

inscription,  DORMITIO . [Sil- 

vestri(?)].  1778 

- from  Ferret’s  Drawing.  480 

Tobias  presenting  a  Fish  to  his 
Father.  1779 

An  Orante,  with  an  Ordination  (?) 
on  the  right,  and  a  Madonna  on  the 
left,  from  Ferret's  Drawing.  469 

S.  Priscilla. 

The  Madonna  addressed  by  a  Prophet, 
who  is  expounding  the  Scriptures  to 
her,  with  the  Star  of  Bethlehem  (?) 
above,  A.D.  523.  1467 

- from  Perrefs  Drawing.  470 

Painted  Chapel,  restored  by  John 
I.,  A.D.  523.  612 

Stucco  Ornament  in  a  Chapel.  613 
The  three  youths  in  the  “burning 
fiery  furnace,”  and  Orantes,  c.  a.d. 
523.  1468,  1471 

Painting  of  an  Orante  or  female 
figure  erect,  in  the  Oriental  atti¬ 
tude  of  prayer.  On  her  left  hand 
a  Madonna  (?)  or  mother  and  child, 
on  her  right  hand  three  figures,  one 
seated,  the  others  standing.  The  in¬ 
terpretation  given  to  this  group  is  an 
ordination.  Other  interpretations  are 
given  to  this  picture.  Also  a  graffito 
of  the  name  of  bosivs.  1470 

An  Orante  addressed  by  two  per¬ 
sons  standing  and  pointing  on  her 
left  hand,  with  another  figure  stand¬ 
ing,  wrapt  up  in  a  tunic,  on  her 
right.  (Allegorical  interpretations  are 
given  to  this  group. )  1472 


S.  Priscilla,  continued. 

Seven  men  carrying  a  wine-cask, 
c.  A.D.  523,  with  graffiti  of  the  names 
of  ANTONIVS  BOSIVS,  ORATIVS  DE 

nobilibvs,  &c.,  and  a  tombstone 
with  the  inscription  —  BONAVDE 
COIVGI  SANCTISSUVLE.  I469 

Graffiti.  1473 

Two  Loculi,  unopened,  with  letters 
painted  on  the  Tiles,  which  cover  the 
openings.  1474 

A  Peacock,  with  tail  expanded  and 
Diaper  Ornaments,  A.D.  523,  from 
Per  ret’ s  Drawing.  477 

A  Peacock,  side  view,  A.D.  523, 
from  Ferret’s  Drawing.  478 


IX.  Catacomb  of  the  Jews  on 
the  Via  Appia.  (p.  119). 

Part  of  the  Place  for  Washing  the 
Bodies  at  the  entrance,  with  Arco- 
solia  or  Arched  Tombs  partly  rebuilt 
in  the  fourth  century.  1753 

Staircase  at  the  exit.  1754 

A  Painted  Cubiculum,  c.  a.d.  150, 

taken  with  the  magnesian  light.  773 

Painting  of  Birds,  A.  D.  150,  in  the  same 
chamber.  562 

The  same ,  from  a  Drawing  by 
Ewing.  1161 

Painted  Vault,  with  allegorical  sub¬ 
jects.  774 

View  in  another  painted  Burial-vault, 
taken  with  the  magnesian  light.  774 
The  same ,  from  a  Drawing  by 
Ewing.  1160 

Pegasus,  a  Painting  on  the  Wall, 
c.  a.d.  150.  775 

A  Peacock,  a.d.  150.  561 

Fragment  of  a  Pagan  Sarcophagus, 
A.D. 150.  563 

Inscriptions,  with  Emblems.  564,  776 


1 88 


Appendix  to  the  Catacombs. 


XI.  Catacombs  of  Naples  (pp.  126 — 129). 


Views  of  the  Ospizio  de’  Poveri  di 
S.  Gennaro.  2143,  2144 

Construction  under  the  Portico  of  the 
Ospizio  de’  Poveri  di  S.  Gennaro,  at 
the  entrance  to  the  Catacombs,  with 
very  bold  corbelling.  2145 

General  View  of  the  entrance  to  the 
Catacombs,  with  Frescoes  on  the 
walls.  2146 

General  View  of  the  entrance  to  the 
Catacombs.  2147 

Fresco  Paintings  in  the  Catacombs,  re¬ 
presenting  SS.  Desiderius  and  Agu- 
tius,  eighth  century  (?).  2148 

Fresco  Paintings  in  the  Catacombs,  re¬ 


presenting  two  Saints,  and  a  lily  be¬ 
tween  them.  2149 

Fresco  Painting  in  the  Catacombs, 
representing  a  peacock,  vases,  and 
flowers.  2150 

Fresco  Painting  in  a  niche  on  the  right- 
hand  side  of  the  entrance  to  the  Cata¬ 
combs.  2151 

Column,  with  Inscription,  in  the  Cata¬ 
combs.  2152 

Chair  of  S.  Gennaro,  cut  in  the  Tufa 
rock  of  the  Catacombs.  2153 

Those  within  the  Cataconibs  are  taken 
with  the  ?nagnesian  light. 


XII.  Churches  outside  the  Walls. 
S.  Paul’s  (pp.  180  to  134). 


View  of  the  Interior  before  the  fire.  456 
- after  the  fire,  in  1823,  shew¬ 
ing  the  parts  that  were  left  standing. 
These  two  are  from  scarce  Engrav¬ 
ings.  623 

View  of  the  Cloister,  thirteenth  century  ; 
exterior,  with  Cosmati  work  and  In¬ 
scription.  2020 

. - -  Interior,  with  light  shining 

through  the  Arcade.  2019 

Paschal  Candlestick  ornamented  with 
rich  Sculpture.  2018 

Altar  Canopy  or  Baldachino,  details  of. 
Frescoes  in  the  Cloister.  2024  to  2030 
Inscriptions.  1985  to  2030 

Mosaic  Pictures.  2031  to  2037 

S.  Sebastian’s  (pp.  138  to  141). 

Exterior  of  Apse,  c.  A.  D.  350  (?).  289 

Plan  of  Church  and  Monastery,  with 
the  Chapels  at  the  entrance  to  the 
Catacomb.  819,  341 

Views  of  the  Ancient  Chapels  at  the 
Entrance  to  the  Catacombs,  c.  A.D. 
350(?),  and  772  ;  and  a.Porticus. 

285,  288 


S.  Urban’s  (pp.  142  to  144). 
Altar  of  Bacchus  found  there.  1365 
The  Classical  Portico,  c.  A.  D.  50,  filled 
up  with  modern  brickwork.  1590 
Exterior  View  behind  the  Altar,  with 
fine  brick  cornice.  1364 

S.  Helena  or  S.  Peter  and  Mar- 
CELLINUS  (p.  145). 

Plan.  206 

View  of  the  Exterior  and  Interior. 

207,  208 

S.  Agnes  (pp.  146  to  148). 

View  of  the  Exterior,  with  the  Porch 
of  the  twelfth  century,  the  Apse, 
A.  d.  623,  and  the  Campanile.  1589 
Interior,  with  the  Canopy  over  the 
Altar  or  Baldachino,  the  Classical 
Columns  and  the  Apse,  with  the 
Mosaic  Pictures,  a.d.  626.  1591 

The  Gallery  or  Triforium,  and  the 
Clerestory,  with  the  Ceiling  and  the 
Fresco  over  the  Arch.  1592 

Mosaic  Picture.  1593 

Fresco  Painting.  1597 

Inscriptions.  1594,  5>  and  6 


Photographs. 


189 


S.  CONSTANTIA  (p.  149). 

Inteiior,  c.  a.d.  320.  This  view  shews 
the  coupled  or  twin  columns  standing 
upon  a  plinth  ;  the  central  part  of  the 
floor  has  evidently  been  raised  to  the 
same  level.  It  was  probably  built 
for  a  Baptistery,  with  tombs  or  sar¬ 
cophagi,  and  altars  in  the  aisle  round, 
the  vault  of  which  is  enriched  with 
Mosaic  pictures.  1600 

The  Mosaic  Pictures.  1607,  1608 

S.  Alexander  (pp.  151  to  153). 

View  in  the  Church.  384 

Antique  Columns.  385 

Perforated  Marble  Screen.  383 

S.  Lorenzo  (pp.  154  to  159). 
General  View  of  the  Exterior,  with 
Portico  and  Campanile.  1082 

Interior  of  the  Nave,  from  the  west, 
with  antique  Arch  of  Triumph,  and 
Mosaics.  592 

Wall  of  side  aisle,  Exterior,  c.  A.  D.  750 ; 
and  Wall  of  Clerestory  with  early 
Plate-tracery,  A.D.  1216.  322 


Interior,  Antique  Columns  in  the  North 


Aisle  of  the  Choir.  594 

Altar  and  Canopy,  A.D.  1160.  593 

Campanile,  c.  a.d.  1216.  319 

Cloister  of  the  Monastery,  c.  A.D.  1216. 

321 

Cloister,  c.  a.d.  1320.  1093 

Ambo  and  Paschal  Candlestick  and 
Ionic  Capitals  to  antique  Marble 
Columns.  595 


Early  Pagan  Sarcophagus,  c.  A.D.  200, 
representing  a  Nuptial  ceremony,  with 
Canopy,  c.  a.d.  1256,  made  into  the 


Tomb  of  the  Cardinal  Fieschi.  597 
Sculpture  of  Lions  at  the  door.  317 
Sarcophagus,  with  shallow  Sculpture  of 
the  Vine,  &c.  318 

Tomb  in  the  form  of  a  Temple.  320 
Fresco  Paintings  of  the  legend  of  S. 
Stephen  and  S.  Lorenzo,  or  Lau¬ 


rence  (?),  in  the  porch.  1120  to  1126 

S.  Stephen  (p.  160). 

Remains  of  the  Church.  2105 


SECOND  APPENDIX  TO  THE  CHAPTER 
ON  THE  CATACOMBS. 


Since  this  Chapter  was  printed,  and  whilst  waiting  for  the  Photo¬ 
engravings  to  illustrate  it  and  confirm  the  views  there  stated,  some 
important  fresh  excavations  have  been  made,  of  which  an  account 
ought  to  be  given  in  this  work.  They  have  been  made  and  are 
carrying  on  for  the  Ecclesiastical  Commission  of  the  Pontifical 
Government,  under  the  direction  of  G.  B.  De  Rossi.  They  are  at 
the  entrance  to  the  catacomb  of  SS.  Nereus  and  Achilleus,  and 
what  has  been  found  is  the  lower  part  of  a  church  of  the  Basilican 
type.  The  two  brothers  De  Rossi  have  just  published  an  excellent 
account  of  it  in  the  Bullet  mo  di  Archeologia  Christiana \  They 
shew  that  these  are  the  remains  of  the  church  of  S.  Petronilla, 
just  as  it  was  left  after  it  had  been  destroyed  some  centuries 
ago  b.  It  must  have  been  a  fine  church,  similar  to  that  of  S.  Agnes, 
at  the  entrance  to  the  catacomb  named  after  her,  with  a  grand 
flight  of  steps  down  into  it  in  the  same  manner,  but  finer,  as 
it  goes  down  in  a  straight  line  at  the  end  of  the  church  opposite 
to  the  altar,  and  has  the  bases  and  lower  parts  of  columns  of  a  grand 
colonnade  over  the  steps.  The  church  consisted  of  a  nave,  with  an 
aisle  on  each  side ;  the  bases  of  the  columns  remain  between  the 
nave  and  the  aisles ;  behind  the  altar  is  an  apse,  at  the  further 
end  of  which,  on  the  lower  story  or  in  the  crypt,  is  an  opening  to 
one  end  of  a  corridor  or  street  of  the  catacombs.  This  has  also 
been  the  case  at  S.  Generosa,  though  not  there  left  visible  as  it  is 
here.  In  the  present  instance  everything  is  left  in  its  place  as  found, 
the  old  Pontifical  system  of  carrying  everything  off  to  museums, 
which  deprived  them  of  half  their  interest,  seems  at  last  to  be  aban¬ 
doned,  more  confidence  is  now  placed  in  the  honesty  of  the  keepers 
and  in  the  vigilance  of  the  police.  Under  the  altar  are  two  brick 
tombs,  the  places  for  the  sarcophagi  containing  the  relics  of  the 
martyrs.  The  walls  are  entirely  of  brick,  the  character  of  which  is 
of  the  fifth  or  sixth  century.  Many  brick-stamps  have  been  found 
in  the  walls,  which  will  give  the  exact  date.  Several  inscriptions 
have  also  been  found,  and  are  published  by  De  Rossi ;  but  as  the 
church  has  evidently  been  made  in  the  catacombs ,  and  is  not  part  of 

a  Vol.  v.  Nos.  i  and  2,  Roma,  1874.  19  wide. 

In  the  second  number  an  excellent  b  M.  S.  De  Rossi  considers  that  it 
plan  and  view  of  the  ruins  are  given,  was  evidently  destroyed  by  an  earth- 
The  church  was  30  metres  long  and  quake. 

O 


192 


Second  Appendix  to  the  Catacombs. 


the  same  original  construction,  they  cannot  decide  the  date  of  the 
church.  There  is  another  entrance  to  the  catacomb  close  by,  the 
brickwork  of  which  is  of  the  first  century,  similar  to  that  of  Praetex- 
tatus,  and  as  in  that  instance,  they  are  probably  family  burial-places 
for  a  great  family,  without  any  reference  to  religion. 

On  the  vault  of  the  passage  from  the  entrance  into  the  catacomb 
is  a  fresco-painting  of  the  vine,  but  it  does  not  at  all  follow  that  the 
painting  is  contemporary  with  the  brickwork ;  there  is  also  a  vine 
painted  just  within  the  entrance  to  that  of  Praetextatus,  and  it  is 
quite  possible  that  those  two  families  may  have  been  among  the 
early  Christians,  and  have  intended  the  vine  as  an  emblem  intelli¬ 
gible  to  other  Christians,  by  reminding  them  of  the  text,  “  I  am  the 
vine,  ye  are  the  branches,”  and  not  intelligible  to  the  heathen. 
What  gives  probability  to  this  is,  that  the  sarcophagus  of  Constantia 
and  the  vaults  of  the  aisles  of  her  mausoleum  are  covered  with  the 
vine,  and  these  probably  were  the  work  of  heathen  workmen ;  the 
Christians  were  not  permitted  to  make  any  display  of  their  religion 
until  the  time  of  Constantine. 

According  to  the  legends  of  the  church,  Flavia  Domitilla  was  the 
niece  of  Domitian,  and  had  property  on  the  Via  Ardeatina,  at  a  mile 
and  half  from  Rome ;  she  was  a  Christian,  and  allowed  the  bodies 
of  the  martyrs  Nereus  and  Achilleus  and  Petronilla  to  be  buried 
under  her  freehold  farm  ( prcedium ),  that  is,  in  her  family  burial- 
place  ;  and  a  church  dedicated  to  S.  Petronilla  was  afterwards  built 
at  the  entrance  to  it,  probably  over  the  original  burial-chapel, 
which  we  find  at  the  entrance  of  each  of  the  catacombs  in  the  early 
ages  of  the  Christian  Church.  That  of  SS.  Nereus  and  Achilleus  is 
described  as  being  “  at  S.  Petronilla,  on  the  Via  Ardeatina.” 

One  of  the  locidi  (or  graves  cut  in  the  rock)  was  found  closed  by 
a  slab  of  marble,  on  which  was  engraved  in  good  letters  val  rvfina. 
Upon  a  large  stone  which  closed  an  arch  built  under  the  pavement 
of  a  street  in  the  catacomb,  at  the  entrance  to  another  burial-vault, 
was  found  in  1854  an  inscription  recording  the  purchase  of  that 
ground  for  the  family  of  Aurelius  Victorinus  : — 

VII  CALENDAS  FEBR(z/)ar(?')AS  EGO  AVR^/zW)  CONSTANTIVS 
scripsi  pro  avr^/w)  bictvrin v  ( viatorino )  EUM  VEN- 
-DI-DISSE  LOCVM  QVEM  EMIT  AVR [elius)  LAVR(«tfz»f) 

From  this  it  is  inferred  by  De  Rossi  that  the  name  of  the  martyr 
was  Aurelia  Petronilla,  and  that  she  belonged  to  the  Gens  Aurelia. 

This  property  lias  recently  been  bought,  with  a  large  district,  by 
Monsignor  De  Merode,  and  the  excavations  are  carried  on  with  his 
approbation,  and  probably  at  h’‘<=  expense,  as  these  Commissions  in 


Second  Appendix  to  the  Catacombs. 


193 


Rome  usually  have  no  funds c.  The  earliest  historical  notice  that  we 
have  of  this  cemetery  is  that  it  was  made  by  John  I.,  a.d.  523 — 526, 
at  the  time  that  Rome  was  under  the  jurisdiction  of  King  Theodoric 
of  Ravenna.  But  the  word  fecit  is  given  in  another  manuscript  as 
refecit  (restored),  which  seems  more  probable d.  Gregory  the  Great 
is  also  said  to  have  delivered  one  of  his  celebrated  Homilies  here, 
which  could  only  have  been  in  the  church,  not  in  the  catacomb. 
This  name  does  not  occur  among  the  thtuli  of  the  clergy  who  attended 
the  Roman  Synod,  a.d.  499,  early  in  the  reign  of  Theodoric,  which 
would  seem  to  imply,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  church  was  not 
built  until  after  that  time.  Gregory  III.,  a.d.  731 — 742  (Anastas., 
202),  instituted  or  appointed  an  annual  station  to  be  held  in  the 
cemetery  of  S.  Petronilla,  and  presented  it  a  corona  (lucis)  of  gold, 
a  chalice  and  paten  of  silver,  and  various  ornaments  pertaining  to 
a  church e,  which  could  not  mean  a  catacomb-chapel  only.  It  is 
probable  that  the  church  was  then  built  over  the  original  burial- 
chapel,  of  which  the  remains  are  shewn  in  De  Rossi’s  plan  as  exist¬ 
ing  under  the  church.  Leo  IV.,  a.d.  847  —  855,  made  similar 
donations  to  this  church.  (Anastas.,  541.) 

Of  another  inscription  only  a  fragment  remains,  with  the  latter 
half  of  two  words,  .  .  .  rvm.  .  .  .  orvm.  By  his  long  experience  De 
Rossi  is  enabled  to  supply  the  rest,  ScpuIcRvu  Rlavioiivn.  This 
probably  applies  only  to  one  of  the  original  family  burial-vaults, 
which  is  one  meaning  of  the  word  cemetery ,  now  called  catacomb. 
Another  inscription  says  that  M.  Antonins  Restitutus — 

FECIT  YPOGEVM  .  SIBI  .  ET  .  SVIS  .  FIDENTIBVS  .  IN  .  DOMINO  . 

Obviously,  again,  a  family  burial-vault,  and  almost  certainly  a  Pagan 
one,  as  the  name  of  Ypogeum  is  not  the  one  used  by  the  Chris¬ 
tian  writers.  Another  fragment  gives  some  letters  of  one  of  the 
long  metrical  inscriptions  of  Damasus,  in  the  beautiful  letters  of 
his  time,  which  is  given  in  full  by  De  Rossi,  and  he  cites  four  dis¬ 
tinct  copies  of  it  from  ancient  manuscripts  : — 

Militise  nomen  dederant  ssevum  Q.  gerebant 1 
Officium  pariter  spectantes  jussA  TYRanni 
Pneceptis  pulsante  metu  serviRE  TARati 
Mira  fides  rerum  subito  posueRE  FVROREm 
Conversi  fugiunt  ducis  impia  castrA  RELlNQVVN'i; 

Proiiciunt  clypeos  faleras  telAQ  .  crventa 


e  Since  this  was  written  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  has  sustained  a  great 
loss  by  the  death  of  this  excellent  per¬ 
son,  who  had  made  a  large  fortune,  and 
began  to  expend  it  for  Church  objects. 


d  Anastasius,  89.. 
e  Ibid.,  202. 

1  Tre  codici  strvunujne,  uno  solo' 
almunque. 


194 


Second  Appendix  to  the  Catacombs. 


Confessi  gaudent  Christi  portarE  trivmfos 
Credite  per  Damasum  possit  quid  GLORIA  CHRISTI  s. 

Another  tombstone  of  beatvs  and  vincentia  has  the  names  of  the 
Consuls,  which  gives  the  date  of  a.d.  395,  but  this  does  not  give  the 
date  of  the  church.  Nobody  doubts  that  the  catacomb  is  an  early  one. 
Leo  III.,  a.d.  795 — 816,  is  recorded  to  have  restored  the  church  of 
SS.  Nereus  and  Achilleus,  which  had  been  damaged  by  a  great  flood. 
This  has  hitherto  been  supposed  to  apply  to  the  church  within  the 
walls  of  Rome,  on  the  Via  Appia,  opposite  to  S.  Sisto  Vecchio, 
which  was  equally  surrounded  by  water  in  the  great  flood  in  1871, 
so  that  it  may  apply  to  either.  As  that  pope  is  said  to  have  rebuilt 
the  church  from  the  foundations,  and  no  work  of  his  time  has  been 
brought  to  light  by  the  recent  excavations  at  this  cemetery,  whereas 
part  of  the  walls  of  the  church  on  the  Via  Appia  may  very  well  be 
of  his  time,  the  old  interpretation  of  the  passage  seems  more  likely 
to  be  the  correct  one.  The  donations  given  to  it  at  the  same  time 
were,  “Six  canisters  of  silver,  weighing  15  lbs. ;  a  ciborium  of  pure 
silver,  weighing  215  lbs. ;  a  chalice  and  paten  of  silver-gilt,  weighing 
1 2  lbs.  10  oz. ;  a  royal  super-altar  of  pure  gold,  ornamented  with 
precious  stones,  weighing  2  lb.  6  oz.,  and  two  vestments,  one  an  alb 
of  silk  with  the  Resurrection  and  Ascension  of  Christ  worked 
upon  it,  the  other  of  Tyrian  purple.”  These  seem  more  suitable 
for  a  church  in  the  city  than  for  one  in  the  country. 

The  excavations  have  also  brought  to  light  some  fresco  paintings 
of  the  fifth  (?)  century,  and  some  graffiti  (or  names  scratched  upon 
the  walls).  This  was  one  of  the  places  of  pilgrimage  mentioned  by 
William  of  Malmesbury  as  frequented  by  the  English,  under  the 
name  of  “  Nereus  and  Achilleus,  and  Petronilla,  and  several  others.” 
Eusebius  also  mentions  that  the  church  of  S.  Paul  was  “  the  entrance 
to  the  martyrs,”  which  probably  means  that  there  was  a  subterranean 
road  or  deep  cutting  from  that  church  to  S.  Sebastian’s.  This  would 
be  on  the  line  of  the  road  now  called  the  “  Via  delle  Sette  Chiese,” 
or  road  of  the  Seven  Churches,  used  by  the  pilgrims  in  the  pilgrim¬ 
ages  of  the  Middle  Ages,  (recently  revived,)  to  the  seven  great  Basi¬ 
licas.  The  pilgrimages  began  at  (1)  S.  Paul’s,  then  went  through 
this  deep  cutting,  passing  by  S.  Petronilla  to  (2)  S.  Sebastian’s,  then 
to  (3)  S.  Lorenzo  and  (4)  S.  Agnes,  all  without  the  walls ;  then  en¬ 
tering  the  City  to  (5)  S.  Croce  in  Gerusalemme,  (6)  S.  John  in  the 
Lateran,  (7)  S.  Maria  Maggiore,  and  crossing  the  Tiber  to  S.  Peter’s 
in  the  Vatican.  The  same  line  was  followed  by  the  American  pil¬ 
grims  in  1874,  but  in  carriages  instead  of  walking  barefoot,  as  was 
the  custom  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

s  Bullettino  di  Archeologia  Cristianci  Rossi.  Seconda  Serie.  Anno  Quint o. 
dd  Commendatore  Giovanni  Battista  de  Roma  1874,  (p.  20). 


Second  Appendix  to  the  Catacombs. 


195 


The  Agap^e  or  Love  Feasts  (?). 

The  Bishop  of  Limerick,  who  has  fortunately  been  in  Rome 
during  the  month  of  April,  1874,  and  has  taken  much  interest  in 
the  Catacombs,  has  kindly  favoured  me  with  the  following  important 
suggestions  respecting  the  paintings  of  feasts,  so  frequently  found 
in  them  \  These  are  usually  interpreted  either  as  the  Last  Supper 
of  our  Lord  upon  earth,  or  the  Agape  or  Love  Feast  of  the  early 
Christians.  The  Bishop,  on  the  contrary,  is  of  opinion  that  some 
of  them,  at  least,  represent  the  heavenly  banquet  of  the  blest,  the 
marriage  supper  spoken  of  in  the  Gospels  and  the  Book  of  Reve¬ 
lation.  I  am  myself  inclined  to  believe  that  these  paintings  merely 
represent  the  commemorative  feasts  on  the  anniversary  of  the  death 
of  the  heads  of  the  family,  usual  among  the  ancient  Romans.  It  is 
still  the  custom  of  the  Romans  to  assemble  at  the  grave  of  the 
deceased  members  of  the  family  on  the  anniversary  of  their  death, 
and  to  have  a  family  feast  on  the  same  occasion.  This  shews  that 
Christianity  did  not  interfere  with  this  ancient  and  reverend  custom. 

‘‘The  Photograph  of  the  picture  No.  2117,  in  Mr.  Parker’s  Cata¬ 
logue  of  Photographs,  represents  three  men  seated  at  a  crescent¬ 
shaped  couch-table  ( mensa  lunatax  or  sigma).  In  front  of  it  is 
a  small  round  tripod  table,  on  which  lies  a  large  fish  ( thynnus ?), 
surrounded  by  what  appear  to  be  eels.  At  each  end  of  the  lunette 
table  sits  a  female  attendant.  Between  one  of  them  and  the  tripod 
a  tall  crater  stands  on  the  floor.  Between  the  other  attendant  and 
the  tripod  stands  a  boy  holding  a  cyathus  or  pocidum  of  some  kind. 
The  lower  parts  of  the  last-named  figures  are  effaced.  The  two 
men,  who  sit  to  the  right  and  left  respectively  of  the  central  figure, 
are  each  reaching  out  their  right  hands,  as  if  they  were  addressing 
the  female  attendants  opposite  to  them.  Over  the  head  of  the  man 
sitting  at  the  right-hand  of  the  central  figure  are  the  words  irene  . 
da  .  calda.  Over  the  one  at  his  left  are  the  words  agape  .  misce  . 
mi.  This  phrase  is  obviously  addressed  to  the  girl  who  sits  close 
to  the  crater.  The  boy  appears  to  be  handing  a  poculum  to  the 
guest  who  asks  for  calda.  In  the  upper  margin  of  the  panel  are 
the  names  volscvs,  rvfevs,  pomponivs,  fabivs;  and  immediately 

h  Any  one  who  knows  Ireland  and  rick,  and  will  know  also  that  he  is  not. 
its  interesting  antiquities,  will  know  one  to  arrive  at  a  hasty  conclusion,  or 
also  the  long-established  reputation  of  to  make  a  bold  conjecture  only ;  he 
Dr.  Graves,  formerly  Fellow  of  Trinity  carefully  investigates  what  he  states. 
College,  Dublin,  now  Bishop  of  Lime- 


196 


Second  Appendix  to  the  Catacambs. 


under  them,  in  somewhat  smaller  and  more  carefully  written  charac¬ 
ters,  the  name  fabianvs.  In  the  left-hand  margin  of  the  panel  are 
the  letters  va,  which,  along  with  lete,  exactly  opposite  them  in  the 
right-hand  margin,  make  up  the  word  valete.  At  the  left-hand 
corner  of  the  bottom  margin,  though  some  of  the  letters  are  very 
faint,  I  think  I  can  make  out  in  agr  ped  x  .  .  . 1 

“The  picture  shewn  in  the  photograph,  No.  2118,  represents 
a  similar  scene.  Three  men  are  seated  at  a  lunette  couch-table,  the 
centre  figure  having  a  little  boy  at  each  side  of  him.  At  each  end 
of  the  lunette  table  sits,  or  stands,  a  female  attendant.  The  one  to 
the  left  of  the  picture  is  holding  out  a  poculum.  The  man  who  is 
opposite  to  her  addresses  her  in  the  words  irene  .  porge  .  calda, 
which  are  written  over  him ;  whilst  the  man  on  the  other  side  of 
the  central  figure  (though  it  must  be  admitted  that  he  is  not  looking 
towards  her),  seems  to  be  addressing  the  other  female  attendant  in 
the  words  agape  .  misce.  nobis.  Each  of  the  men  leans,  as  he  ought 
to  do,  .with  his  left  elbow  upon  the  couch-table.  A  small  round 
table  stands  in  the  centre.  The  lower  part  of  the  picture  being 
defaced,  we  cannot  say  with  certainty  whether  it  was  a  tripod  or 
not,  or  determine  what  was  served  upon  it.  It  was  probably  like 
the  table  represented  in  2117. 

“  In  the  fourth  volume  of  the  Berlin  Corpus  Inscriptionum  Lati- 
narurn ,  which  contains  the  inscriptions  and  graffiti  of  Pompeii,  at 
No.  1291,  we  meet  with  a  notice  of  a  picture  which  illustrates  those 
now  under  consideration.  It  represents  a  soldier,  who  holds  out 
a  glass  to  a  servant  who  is  waiting  upon  him,  and  addresses  him  in 
the  words  da  fridam  (frigidam)  pvsillvm,  written  as  a  graffito  on 
the  picture.  He  is  asking  for  a  little  cold  water. 

“No  one  can  well  question  the  appropriateness  of  the  phrases 
misce  .  mi,  misce  .  nobis,  da  .  calda,  and  porge  calda,  as  ad¬ 
dressed  to-  an  attendant  waiting  upon  persons  at  an  entertainment. 
The  Romans  were  not  in  the  habit  of  drinking  their  wine  undiluted, 
and  the  attendant  was  said  miscere  alicui.  We  have  an  instance  of 
mi  for  mihi  in  Virgil,  JE n.  x.  104;  and  others  in  Lucilius  and 
Plautus.  Porge ,  as  Festus  tells  us,  was  the  old  form  for  Porrige ; 
and  Virgil,  Ain.  viii.  274,  has  pccula  porgite.  In  fact yporgere  seems 
to  have  been  the  word  most  correctly  used  with  reference  to  the 


1  The  engraving  of  this  fresco  given 
by  liottari,  tav.  cxxvii.,  though  exe¬ 
cuted  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago, 
when  the  painting  was  in  a  much  more 
perfect  state  of  preservation,  is  so  in¬ 
accurate  that  it  lias  misled  those  who 


have  copied  and  commented  on  it.  Not 
to  mention  errors  in  smaller  matters  of 
detail,  it  represents  the  central  figure 
as  a  female,  and  for  the  fish  on  the 
table  substitutes  some  kind  of  quadruped 
served  whole. 


Second  Appendix  to  the  Catacombs. 


197 


handing  of  wine  or  anything  that  was  to  be  drunk.  Cicero  uses  the 
phrase  porgens  carchesia;  Horace,  porrecta  pocula;  and  Apuleius, 
porrigit  bibam.  Calda  is  put  for  caldam  ( aquam ),  the  final  m  being 
omitted,  as  was  not  unusual.  Perhaps  this  was  a  phonetic  spelling ; 
at  all  events,  the  omission  is  common  enough  in  inscriptions.  Thus 
we  have  Septima  sit  tibi  terra  levis.  Quisquis  hide  tumulo  posuit  arden- 
te(m )  lucernam  illius  cineres  aurea  terra  tegat.,  (Gruter,  1148.  17); 
Pietate  redere  for  pietatem  reddere ,  (Orell.  5058);  post  ea(m)  uxore(in ) 
non  habituru(m),  (Orell.  4603).  Calda  was  used  absolutely  for 
calda  aqua;  thus  we  have  in  Pliny,  cum  pari  calda.  mensura ,  and  the 
servant  who  supplied  hot  water  was  called  serous  a  calda.  It  is 
possible,  however,  that  calda  may  be  the  accusative  plural  of  cal- 
dum ,  which  was  used  substantively  in  the  sense  of  a  hot  drink  made 
by  mixing  wine  with  hot  water.  In  sepulchral  inscriptions  ave  or 
have,  vale,  avete,  valete,  frequently  occur  in  addresses  to  the 
departed.  There  may  be  some  doubt  as  to  the  reading  of  the 
words  in  agr  ped  x  .  .  .  If  they  are  rightly  deciphered,  they  indi¬ 
cate  one  admeasurement,  that  is,  the  depth  of  the  space  belonging 
to  a  family,  and  available  for  the  purposes  of  burial.  The  other 
dimension,  that  of  the  frontage,  may  have  been  stated  in  the  right- 
hand  corner  of  the  margin,  but  that  part  of  the  panel  has  been 
completely  defaced.  As  regards  the  names  of  the  female  attend¬ 
ants,  Agape  and  Irene,  they  are  of  frequent  occurrence  in  the  early 
Christian  inscriptions.  Irene  appears  in  De  Rossi,  Tav.  xliii.,  and 
Agape  in  Tav.  lv. 

“  The  similarity  in  all  their  details  between  these  two  pictures,  and 
others  which  are  the  work  of  pagan  artists,  or  intended  to  represent 
pagan  scenes,  is  very  remarkable.  There  is  in  the  Lateran  collec¬ 
tion  a  sarcophagus  representing  a  lady  lying  on  a  couch,  with 
a  tripod-table  before  her,  and  on  it  is  a  large  fish.  The  character 
of  the  sculpture,  and  the  inscription  which  this  monument  bears, 
prove  it  undoubtedly  to  be  pagan.  Again,  in  a  picture  in  the 
Vatican  Manuscript  of  Virgil,  Dido  is  seen  seated  between  TEneas 
and  Ascanius,  with  a  small  round  table  before  them,  on  which 
there  is  a  single  dish  containing  a  fish.  In  that  part  of  the  cata¬ 
comb  of  Praetextatus  which  was  assigned  to  the  worshippers  of 
Mithra,  there  are  paintings  and  inscriptions  having  relation  to 
pagan  superstitions.  One  of  these  represents  seven  persons,  desig¬ 
nated  as  Septem  Pii  Sacerdotes ,  seated  at  a  sigma  couch,  with  dishes 
before  them,  on  which  are  served  a  fowl,  a  hare,  a  pasty,  and  a  fish. 
Another  picture  of  the  same  series  represents  six  persons  seated  at 
a  sigma  table,  whilst  a  seventh  is  coming  in.  Before  them  are  set 
three  dishes  containing  fowl,  pasty,  and  fish.  At  the  side  stands 
a  crater  resting  on  a  tripod.  In  the  Annals  of  the  German  Archaeo¬ 
logical  Institute  of  Rome,  1866,  p.320,  mention  is  made  of  a  pic¬ 
ture  found  in  a  pagan  tomb  at  Ostia.  It  represents  five  persons 
seated  at  a  lunette  couch-table,  apparently  partaking  of  a  banquet. 
The  name  of  each  of  the  persons  is  written  over  his  head.  Though 


198 


Second  Appendix  to  tJie  Catacombs. 


those  pictures  belong  to  a  different  school  of  art  and  thought,  they 
are,  to  say  the  least,  analogous  to  the  fresco  paintings  in  the  cata¬ 
comb  of  SS.  Peter  and  Marcellinus,  which  we  are  considering.  The 
four  fresco  paintings  in  the  catacomb  of  S.  Calixtus,  figured  by  De 
Rossi,  Plates  XIV.,  XV.,  XVI.,  are  generally  supposed  to  refer 
either  to  the  miracles  wrought  by  our  Lord  in  feeding  the  multitudes, 
or  to  the  incidents  which  followed  the  miraculous  draught  of  fishes 
recorded  by  S.  John  (chap.  xxi.  1 — 14);  and  having  this  primary 
scope,  they  may  also  be  regarded  as  having  a  reference  to  the 
Eucharist.  The  first  of  these  represents  seven  persons  seated  at 
a  couch-table,  having  before  them  three  dishes,  on  two  of  which  are 
fish.  In  the  front  of  the  picture  are  twelve  baskets  of  bread.  In 
another  we  have  a  tripod-table,  with  a  fish  upon  it,  with  seven 
baskets  of  bread  in  front.  In  a  third  we  have  seven  nude  figures, 
with  two  dishes  before  them,  with  a  fish  on  each.  His  sixteenth 
plate  represents  another  group  of  seven  persons  seated  at  a  table, 
and  served  with  two  dishes  of  fish.  In  the  front  of  the  picture  are 
eight  baskets  of  bread. 

“  Some  doubt  may  be  entertained  as  to  the  interpretation  of  these 
pictures.  But  it  seems  to  me  quite  obvious  that  the  fresco  paintings 
described  above,  No.  2117  and  2118  in  Mr.  Parker’s  Catalogue,  are 
not  designed  to  represent  eucharistic  celebrations  or  agapce.  The 
following  are  my  reasons  for  coming  to  this  conclusion  : — 1.  There 
is  an  a  priori  objection  to  such  a  view.  Pictures  in  the  Catacombs 
ought  to  have  had  a  distinctly  religious  use.  They  ought  to  have 
been  calculated  to  sustain  the  hopes  of  men  living  in  a  state  of  trial, 
if  not  of  actual  persecution.  The  picture  of  an  agape  would  not  have 
served  this  purpose.  The  reality  of  these  love-feasts  was  familiar 
enough  to  the  Christians  who  worshipped  in  the  Catacombs,  and 
the  force  of  this  consideration  is  strengthened  when  we  come  to 
remember  that  these  entertainments,  which  were  sometimes  charac¬ 
terized  by  a  want  of  order  even  in  the  apostolic  times,  were  after¬ 
wards  so  discredited  by  disorder  and  excess  that  the  holding  of  them 
came  to  be  forbidden.  2.  The  persons  seated  at  the  table  are  the 
departed,  to  whom  their  surviving  relations  and  friends  address  the 
greeting  valete.  3.  The  persons  ministering  are  females.  4.  Their 
names  Agape  and  Irene,  though  no  doubt  proper  names,  in  common 
use  amongst  Christians,  are  more  fitly  used  to  indicate  the  personi¬ 
fication  of  the  spirit  of  Christian  love,  and  of  the  peace  of  God 
ministering  to  the  happiness  of  the  blest.  5.  Christians  in  the  early 
ages  were  accustomed  to  see  on  sarcophagi  sculptures  representing 
the  departed  spirits  of  Pagans  enjoying  the  pleasures  of  Elysium. 

“  The  symbolic  meaning  of  the  fish  has  been  too  much  insisted  on 
by  those  who  have  described  and  commented  on  these  pictures. 
In  many  cases,  but  not  in  all,  did  it  represent  the  Divine  Person. 
The  fish,  in  the  symbolism  of  painters  and  sculptors,  had  a  different 
meaning :  it  denoted  the  goodness  of  the  viands  provided  at  a  ban¬ 
quet.  Horace  contrasts  the  most  sumptuous  and  the  most  frugal 
fare  in  the  line  : — 

*  Seu  pisces  seu  porrum  et  csepe  trucidas.  ’  ” 


Second  Appendix  to  the  Catacombs. 


199 


S.  Priscilla®. 

This  catacomb  has  the  largest  number  of  paintings,  and  the  ear¬ 
liest  of  any.  The  present  entrance  is  a  straight  vaulted  passage 
from  the  Via  Salaria,  partly  underground ;  the  original  entrance  was 
by  a  flight  of  steps  from  the  vineyard  above.  The  modern  entrance 
was  made  in  1865,  probably  because  the  proprietor  of  the  vineyard 
would  not  allow  a  right  of  way.  The  celebrated  Capella  Gr^eca 
is  just  at  the  foot  of  the  original  steps,  and  near  to  the  present  en¬ 
trance.  It  is  a  small  chapel,  in  the  plan  of  a  Greek  cross  +,  with 
paintings  on  the  walls  on  either  side  of  the  choir,  for  the  most  part 
well  preserved,  and  very  interesting ;  the  proper  explanation  of  them 
is  matter  of  endless  controversy,  some  give  a  very  early  date  to 
them,  but  the  drawing  does  not  bear  out  any  such  early  date,  if 
compared  with  the  frescoes  in  the  tombs  on  the  Via  Latina,  of 
which  the  date  is  ascertained  by  the  brick-stamps  to  be  of  the 
second  and  third  centuries;  the  inferiority  of  the  art  is  very  apparent, 
nor  are  they  all  of  one  period.  Some  of  the  paintings  in  this  ceme¬ 
tery  are  probably  of  the  sixth  century,  and  others  of  the  eighth  and 
ninth.  The  three  children  “in  the  burning  fiery  furnace”  belong 
to  the  latter  period;  the  remainder  are  earlier,  and  appear  rather 
to  relate  some  family  history  than  any  historical  or  religious  sub¬ 
jects.  In  the  earlier  pictures,  the  same  three  figures  occur  in  all, 
and  they  seem  to  relate  the  history  of  the  same  person,  first  as 
a  girl,  then  as  a  young  mother  with  a  baby  in  her  arms,  then  one 
advanced  in  life,  as  the  mother  of  a  family  of  grown-up  children. 
Allegorical  meanings  may  be  given  to  any  extent  to  these  pictures, 
as  nothing  is  really  known  of  the  history  of  the  Priscilla  whose  tomb 
this  was,  and  there  are  no  means  of  testing  the  truth.  Close  adjoining 
to  this  chamber,  or  vault,  is  another,  in  which  is  the  place  for  a  sar¬ 
cophagus,  supposed  to  have  been  used  for  an  altar  to  a  chapel,  as 
there  is  a  step  at  one  end  to  a  platform  behind  it  for  a  priest  to 
stand  upon  and  officiate  over  the  body  of  the  martyr  there  interred. 
The  walls  have  remains  of  the  marble  casing,  shewing  that  it  was 
the  chapel  of  a  wealthy  family.  In  other  parts  of  this  cemetery,  and 
in  other  vaults,  are  represented  the  two  wine-casks,  and  four  men  are 
seen  carrying  a  third.  To  these  also  various  allegorical  meanings 
are  given,  but  the  probability  is,  that  it  was  the  burial-place  of  the 
wife  of  a  wine-merchant,  or  wine-maker,  perhaps  the  owner  of 
the  vineyard  above,  whose  death  took  place  at  the  time  of  the 

a  See  p.  1 14,  and  Plates  V.,  VI.,  XXIV. 

P 


200 


Second  Appendix  to  the  Catacombs. 


vintage,  and  this  event  was  commemorated  by  the  family  in  their 
burial-place.  The  inscription,  which  was  under  the  picture  when 
this  photograph  was  taken,  has  since  been  removed  by  the  Pontifical 
authorities,  it  agrees  with  this  interpretation  : — 

BONAVIAE  CONJVGX  SANCTIS9IMAE. 

In  another  cubiculum  is  the  much-disputed  painting  of  the  Ma¬ 
donna  (?)  addressed  by  the  prophet  (?).  This  is  a  small  group  of 
figures,  not  more  than  two  feet  square,  on  a  flat  surface  on  the  ceiling 
of  an  arco-solium,  under  which  is  a  sarcophagus,  and  on  the  back 
wall  are  remains  of  a  Good  Shepherd  with  the  sheep.  In  another 
cubiculum  is  the  Good  Shepherd  on  the  vault ;  in  his  arms  he  carries 
a  goat  and  a  sheep,  and  another  goat  is  at  his  feet,  and  also 
a  sheep.  In  this  chamber  the  paintings  are  evidently  of  two 
periods,  probably  of  the  sixth  and  eighth  centuries. 

S.  NEREUS,  S.  PETRONILLAb,  &C. 

In  the  spring  of  1875,  the  excavations  in  the  Basilica  of  S.  Petro- 
nilla,  and  in  the  Catacomb  of  S.  Nereus  adjoining  to  it,  were  con¬ 
tinued,  and  in  a  small  cubiculum  at  the  back  of  the  apse  of  the 
church,  a  painting  was  found  of  two  female  figures,  in  the  style  of 
painting  of  the  sixth  century,  under  the  arch  of  an  arco-solium  at 
the  back  of  the  small  burial-vault,  with  inscriptions  on  the  sides 
of  the  figures. 

B.  VENERANDA  FELICITA  IN  PACE 
PETRONILLA  MART. 

In  the  centre  of  the  church  a  small  marble  column  has  also  been 
found,  with  figures  carved  upon  it  in  alto  relievo ,  representing  the 
martyrdom  of  S.  Achilleus,  with  the  name  inscribed.  This  is  also 
in  the  style  of  the  sixth  century.  Another  fragment  of  a  marble 
column  has  also  been  found,  which  probably  had  the  martyrdom 
of  S.  Nereus  carved  upon  it.  There  are  a  number  of  sarcophagi 
in  the  floor  of  the  church,  left  just  as  they  were  found,  half  above 
and  half  below  the  pavement.  The  walls  of  the  church  were  being 
rebuilt  in  1876,  and  a  new  roof  was  to  be  put  on,  to  preserve  every¬ 
thing  as  it  was  found.  It  is  expected  to  be  used  for  worship  again. 

b  See  p.  70,  and  Plates  XXII.,  XXIII. 


ERRATA  ET  CORRIGENDA. 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


Errata. 

p,  2,  l.  32.  It  has  only  been  discon¬ 
tinued  since  the  year  i860. 

p.  3,  note  f.  et  a  liberalibus. 

p.  9,  /.  6.  to  the  gate  only. 

p.  22,  note  g.  exterminate. 

p.  34,  note  p.  VP  SCI. 

Ibid.  sibi. 

Ibid. ,  note  q.  EMIT. 

p.  37,  note  a.  hygtae  .  c. 

Ibid.  XSS. 

p.  63,  note  g.  de’  gemme. 

p.  85,  note  b.  “  Tre  sepolcri,”  &c. 

Ibid,  del  Perso  dio. 

Ibid. ,  note  c.  Correspondenza. 

p.  104,  note  o.  marcuerant. 

p.  108,  note  x.  in  aquilino. 

p.  1 13,  note  e.  de  Esquileo. 

p.  123,  l.  3.  but  they  are  no  longer  used. 

p.  131.  MEMO. 

p.  1 34,  note  z.  recisa. 

p.  159,  note  g.  porticum,  qui. 

p.  162,  line  18.  Index  Coemeterium. 

p.  1 71,  note  s.  antesignatum. 


Corrigenda. 

It  is  still  continued,  in  1877,  in  the  great 
burial-ground  at  S.  Lorenzo  f.  m. 

et  liberalibus. 

to  the  parish  church  only. 

exterminata. 

* 

PP  SVI 
SIBI. 

EMIT. 

D.  M. — HYGIA  .  FEC. 

HSS. 

di  gemme. 

This  work  is  not  by  Padre  Marchi,  but 
by  Padre  Garrucci. 

del  Persidico  dio. 

Corrispondenza. 

marcuerat. 

in  aquilonari. 

de  Esquilino. 

and  they  are  still  in  use. 

MENS. 

RECISO. 

porticum,  quae. 

Index  Coemeteriorum. 
antesignenum. 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  PLATES. 


The  Catacombs. 


Plate  I. 

Construction. — Natural  Sections  in  the  Catacomb  of  S.  Cy- 
riaca,  and  Loculi  in  the  Corridors  (called  also  streets),  now  in 
the  burial-ground  of  S.  Lorenzo. 

In  the  course  of  the  enlargement  of  the  great  burial-ground  of 
Rome  in  the  year  1870—1871,  part  of  the  tufa  rock  on  the  side  of 
it  was  cut  away  in  which  this  catacomb  was  situated,  and  one  side 
of  the  corridors  or  streets,  and  of  the  cubicula ,  or  burial-vaults,  was 
thrown  open  to  view.  It  is  now,  in  1874,  again  concealed  by  modern 
tombs  built  up  against  it,  but  the  views  here  given  shew  very  clearly 
the  old  arrangement,  and  the  manner  in  which  the  corridors  followed 
the  geological  formation  of  the  rock,  being  always  made  on  a  bed 
of  soft  tufa  between  two  beds  or  layers  of  hard  tufa.  The  loculi ,  or 
places  for  the  bodies  to  be  laid  in  the  graves  cut  in  the  rock,  instead 
of  being  dug  out  in  the  ground,  are  here  shewn  very  clearly. 


.  CYRIACA _LOCULI  IN  CORRIDORS  IN  BURIAL  GROUND  OF  S.  LORENZO 


CATACOM  BS—CONSTRU  CT ION_SECTIONS. 


The  Catacombs. 


Plate  II. 

Construction.— Sections  of  the  Catacombs  of  S.  Generosa, 

A. D.  500,  AND  S.  CYRIACA,  A.D.  259. 

In  that  of  S.  Generosa  two  of  the  loculi  are  left  open,  with  the 
skeletons  visible,  a  third  is  closed  in  the  usual  manner  with  tiles 
and  mortar;  the  divisions  or  joints  are  thick,  and  are  plainly 
seen  in  this  photo-engraving.  In  the  one  from  S.  Cyriaca  a  cubi- 
culum  is  shewn,  with  an  arco-solium  or  arched  recess  for  a  stone 
coffin  to  be  placed  in.  The  usual  features  of  a  catacomb  are  there¬ 
fore  well  seen  in  this  cutting,  without  the  aid  of  artificial  light. 

1.  The  cubiculum ,  or  family  burial-vault,  sold  in  perpetuity  to 
a  particular  family. 

2.  The  arco-solium ,  or  arched  recess  for  a  sarcophagus  or  stone 
coffin  for  the  heads  of  the  family,  or  in  a  few  very  rare  instances  for 
the  body  of  a  martyr. 

3.  The  loculi ,  or  graves  for  ordinary  persons,  either  in  the  family 
vault  or  in  the  corridors,  passages,  or  streets  ;  in  the  latter  case 
they  were  generally  for  the  poor,  and  the  loculus  was  paid  for  by 
a  burial-club. 


TWO  LOCULI  OPEN_  ONE  NOT  OPENED 


CATACOM  BS  _ CONSTRUCTION  —  SECTIONS- 


The  Catacombs. 


Plate  III. 

Construction  of  the  Brickwork  at  the  Entrance. 

These  four  examples  are  all  at  one  of  the  entrances  to  the  great 
catacomb  of  the  family  of  Praetextatus.  This  entrance  is  from 
a  sand-pit  road  near  the  church  of  S.  Urban,  which  is  situated  in 
a  cross-road  or  diverticulum  from  the  Via  Appia  to  the  Via  Latina, 
now  a  part  of  the  Via  Appia  Nova;  it  is  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
from  the  Via  Appia  at  the  church  of  S.  Sebastian.  This  sand-pit 
road  is  only  about  twenty  feet  below  the  level  of  the  present  road 
over  it,  and  was  probably  a  foss-way,  subsequently  vaulted  over  to 
make  the  road  level  with  the  ground  on  each  side,  or  nearly  so. 
The  brickwork  of  Numbers  I.,  II.,  III.,  is  of  the  middle  of  the  first 
century  of  the  Empire  and  of  the  time  of  Nero,  as  is  seen  by  the 
very  fine  joints,  especially  in  No.  II.,  where  ten  bricks  to  the  foot 
can  be  counted  in  the  six-foot  rule  shewn  in  this  photo-engraving. 
The  cornice  and  pediments  over  the  doors  are  not  likely  to  have 
been  made  for  a  sand-pit  road  only,  unless  it  was  open  to  the  sky. 
No.  IV.  is  of  the  second  century,  of  the  time  of  Hadrian,  as  is  seen 
by  the  thickness  of  the  mortar  between  the  bricks,  quite  different 
from  No.  II.  It  is  evident  that  this  catacomb  was  a  family  burial- 
place  in  the  first  half  of  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era,  or 
before  the  Crucifixion,  when  there  could  have  been  no  Christians  to 
bury,  and  continued  in  use  for  at  least  three  centuries. 


CATACOMBS- BRICK -WORK  AT  ENTRANCES. 


PRjETEXTAT  US_  CORN  I CE  AND  WALL_CENT.  1. 


PEDIMENT -CENT.  I 


ARCH  —CENT.  Il 


The  Catacombs. 


/ 


Plate  IV. 

Inscriptions  on  the  Loculi  of  four  Bishops  of  the  Third 
Century,  in  the  Catacomb  of  S.  Calixtus. 

The  inscription  of  Bishop  Eutychianus,  a.d.  238,  Fabianus,  a.d. 
249,  and  Anteros,  a.d.  235,  are  in  Greek  characters;  that  of 
Cornelius,  martyr  and  bishop,  a.d.  252,  is  in  the  Latin  character. 
It  is  the  fashion  now  for  Protestants  to  doubt  the  authenticity  of 
these  inscriptions,  because  they  see  that  the  catacomb  of  Calixtus 
has  been  too  much  restored  and  got  up  for  show,  with  the  object  of 
restoring  it  to  use  as  a  place  of  worship  and  for  pilgrimages  on 
certain  festival  days.  But  these  suspicions  are  carried  too  far ;  there 
is  no  reason  to  doubt  the  genuineness  of  these  inscriptions  in  the 
Catacombs.  Greek  was  the  language  of  the  Church  until  after  that 
period,  and  there  were  many  Greek  Christians  in  Rome  in  the  third 
century.  The  change  of  the  seat  of  empire  was  the  ruin  of  Rome 
in  many  ways,  and  after  that  time  more  Romans  went  to  Greece 
than  Greeks  came  to  Rome.  Those  inscriptions  have  all  the  cha¬ 
racter  of  authenticity,  only  in  some  cases  the  originals  were  carried 
off  to  the  Pontifical  Museum,  and  plaster  casts  substituted  for  them 
in  their  original  places. 


ANTEROS  EPISCOPUS.  CORNELIUS  MARTYR  EPISCOPUS 


CATACOMBS 


THE  CATACOMBS 


PLATE  I. 

VIA  APPI A  — PRETEXT ATUS. 


Cultivation  of  the  Vine. 


The  Catacombs— Paintings. 


Description  of  Plate  I. 

Via  Appia — Pretext atus. 

Cultivation  of  the  Vine. 

The  catacomb  of  the  great  Roman  family  of  Prsetextatus  is  com¬ 
monly  called  by  Roman  Catholics  Saint  Pmetextatus,  but  this  is  an 
error.  It  is  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  Catacombs,  and  the  construc¬ 
tion  of  the  walls  at  one  of  the  entrances  is  of  the  time  of  Nero, 
as  is  shewn  in  Plate  I.  of  the  Construction  of  the  Catacombs. 
The  chamber  in  which  this  painting  is  found  is  a  fine  lofty  square 
room,  or  chapel,  at  the  principal  entrance.  It  is  built  with  brick 
walls  and  not  merely  excavated  in  the  rock,  and  is  just  within  the 
early  wall.  It  was,  no  doubt,  the  place  where  the  commemorative 
funeral  services  were  held  at  the  anniversaries  of  the  deaths  of  the 
members  of  the  family  buried  in  the  family  vault,  to  which  this  was 
the  principal  entrance.  The  phototype  diagram  is  a  facsimile  of 
a  photograph  taken  from  nature  with  the  magnesian  light,  and  no 
attempt  is  made  to  embellish  it  or  improve  upon  the  original,  as  is 
generally  done  in  all  the  engravings  of  these  paintings  that  are  pub¬ 
lished.  The  painting  may  possibly  be  as  early  as  the  second  cen¬ 
tury,  but  is  more  likely  to  be  of  the  third,  as  S.  Urban  was  buried  in 
this  catacomb  in  a.d.  230,  and  the  paintings  are  more  likely  to  have 
been  executed  after  that  time  than  before  it.  The  relics  of  the 
martyrs  were  what  gave  celebrity  to  the  catacombs  or  cemeteries  in 
which  they  were  interred.  The  same  subject  occurs  also  in  fresco 
in  the  catacomb  of  SS.  Nereus  and  Achilleus,  or  Domitilla,  which 
is  also  an  early  catacomb,  and  in  the  mosaic  pictures  in  the  vault  of 
the  mausoleum  of  Constantia.  The  subject  may  be  either  pagan  or 
Christian ;  it  is  commonly  supposed  to  be  Christian,  illustrative  of 
the  text,  “  I  am  the  vine,  ye  are  the  branches,”  and  the  birds  are 
supposed  to  symbolize  the  souls  of  the  departed.  This  lofty  vaulted 
chamber  is  mentioned  in  some  of  the  early  legends.  It  had  long 
been  lost  sight  of,  and  was  re-discovered  by  De  Rossi  in  1848.  This 
painting  has  not  been  engraved  by  Bosio  nor  by  Perret,  and  is  be¬ 
lieved  not  to  have  been  published  before,  excepting  a  woodcut  of  it 
in  the  Bulletino  di  Archeologia  Christiana  of  De  Rossi. 


CAT  ACOM  BS_S.  PRAETEXTATVS 


CULTIVATION  OF  THE  VINE 


- 


> 


) 


l 


> 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


PLATE  II. 

VIA  ARDEATINA— SS.  NEREUS  AND  ACHILLEUS, 
OR  DOMITILLA  (?). 

An  Agape. 

VIA  SALARIA — S.  PRISCILLA. 

Madonna  and  Prophet. 


The  Catacombs— Paintings. 


Description  of  Plate  II. 

i.  Via  Ardeatina — SS.  Nereus  and  Achilleus,  or  Domitilla  (?). 

An  Agape. 

The  first  of  these  cemeteries  is  in  the  Via  Ardeatina,  between 
S.  Sebastian’s  and  S.  Paul’s.  An  Agape,  or  love-feast,  is  a  common 
subject  of  the  paintings  in  the  Catacombs,  and  sometimes  seems  to 
be  evidently  a  representation  of  the  family  gatherings  that  were  held 
on  the  anniversaries  in  these  tombs,  in  the  same  manner  as  they 
were  in  the  painted  tombs  in  the  Via  Latina  or  the  Via  Appia. 
These  paintings  are  often  supposed  to  be  the  Last  Supper,  and 
sometimes  may  be  so,  but  the  one  before  us  can  hardly  be  intended 
for  Christ  and  His  Apostles.  This  picture  is  probably  one  of  those 
of  the  time  of  John  I.,  a.d.  523,  who  made  this  catacomb,  according 
to  Anastasius.  This  probably  means  that  he  made  burial-vaults  for 
the  relics  of  the  martyrs,  and  for  others  to  be  interred  near  them. 
The  word  ccemeterium  may  mean  either  the  whole  ground  occupied 
by  a  series  of  these  vaults,  and  the  corridors  connecting  them,  or 
each  separate  vault. 


2.  Via  Salaria — S.  Priscilla. 

Madonna  and  Prophet. 

The  second  picture  in  the  lower  part  of  the  page,  from  the 
catacomb  of  S.  Priscilla,  is  one  to  which  the  Roman  officials  attach 
great  importance,  and  consider  to  be  of  very  early  date.  The 
catacomb  or  cemetery  of  S.  Priscilla  is  on  the  Via  Salaria,  and  is 
also  said  by  Anastasius  to  have  been  re7iewed  by  John  I.,  but 
was  an  early  catacomb.  The  question  is  whether  the  paintings 
belong  to  the  renewal  or  to  the  original  work.  It  is  in  so  bad 
a  state,  as  the  photograph  shews,  that  it  is  not  easy  to  decide  the 
question.  The  traditions  of  the  Roman  Church  make  this  catacomb 
to  have  belonged  to  the  family  of  Pudens ;  and  the  painted  chapel, 
called  the  Cappella  Graeca,  to  have  been  the  burial-place  of  S.  Puden- 
tiana.  The  frescoes  in  this  chapel  are  of  earlier  character  than  most 
of  the  others  in  the  Catacombs,  but  can  hardly  be  so  early  as  the 
date  assumed  for  them.  This  painting  is  not  in  that  chapel ;  the 
Roman  authorities  consider  the  two  figures  to  be  the  blessed  Virgin, 
and  the  prophet  Isaiah  addressing  her,  but  this  is  only  conjecture. 
The  chromo-lithograph  of  the  picture  given  by  Dr.  Northcote  shews 
how  much  the  clever  modern  artists  in  Rome  can  improve  on  the 
originals.  It  is  engraved  by  Bosio,  p.  541,  in  the  fourth  cubiculum , 
in  the  style  of  his  period. 


CATA  CO  M  B  S 


S.  PRISCILLA.  MADONNA  AND  PROPHET 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


PLATE  III. 

VIA  SAL  ARIA — S.  PRISCILLA. 

The  Three  Children  in  the  “  burning  fiery  furnace." 
Shadrach,  Meshech  and  Abednego,  or  Daniel,  &c. 

2.  An  Orante  addressed  by  other  Persons. 


The  Catacombs— Paintings. 


Description  of  Plate  III. 

Via  Salaria — S.  Priscilla. 

1.  The  Three  Children  in  the  “  burning  fiery  furnace.” 

Shadrach,  Meshech  and  Abednego,  or  Daniel,  &c. 

2.  An  Orante  addressed  by  other  Persons. 

Both  of  these  paintings  belong  to  the  renewal  by  John  I.,  a.d.  523. 

That  this  was  a  very  ancient  family  burial-place  there  is  no  doubt, 
probably  as  early  as  the  second  century,  and  it  may  have  been 
painted  at  that  period.  We  know  that  it  was  the  custom  to  have 
a  painted  chamber  in  a  tomb  as  a  sort  of  guest-chamber,  where  the 
family  would  assemble  at  the  anniversaries,  according  to  an  old 
Roman  custom,  still  continued  to  some  extent,  as  it  is  still  the  cus¬ 
tom  for  the  Romans  to  assemble  at  the  grave  of  a  deceased  member 
of  the  family  on  the  anniversary  of  his  or  her  death.  The  painted 
tombs  on  the  Via  Latina  are  of  the  second  century,  but  there  is 
certainly  nothing  of  the  same  character  in  the  catacomb  or  ceme¬ 
tery  of  S.  Priscilla.  The  Roman  authorities  say  that  the  stucco 
ornament  is  of  the  same  character  as  that  in  the  Thermae  of  Titus 
and  Trajan,  which  is  also  of  the  second  century.  There  is  very 
little  stucco  ornament  remaining  there,  and  the  celebrated  tombs  on 
the  Via  Latina  are  a  more  fair  object  for  comparison  ;  let  any  one 
compare  our  photographs,  or  photo-engravings,  of  the  two,  and  see 
whether  they  think  they  can  possibly  be  of  the  same  age.  If  there 
have  been  paintings  of  that  period  in  S.  Priscilla,  they  have  been 
destroyed  or  renewed  at  a  later  period. 

Compare  613,  1468,  1469,  1470,  1471,  1472,  from  S.  Priscilla, 
with  2091,  2092,  2095,  2098,  2099,  2100,  from  the  Painted  Tombs, 
or  Plates  XV.  and  XVI.  of  Tombs  with  Plates  II.,  III.,  V.,  VI.,  of 
Catacombs. 

Here  are  photographs  of  six  of  each  of  these  two  subjects,  which 
the  Roman  authorities  allege  to  be  of  the  same  period ;  let  Dr. 
Northcote  himself  compare  them,  and  see  whether  he  can  still 
believe  that  to  be  the  case. 


CATACOMBS-S.  PRISCILLA 


AN  ORANTE  ADDRESSED  BY  OTHER  PERSONS 


«  THE  BURNING  EIERY  FURNACE  » 


Photogravure  Diyarclin. 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


PLATE  IV. 

VIA  APPIA — S.  CALIXTUS. 

An  Agape  (?),  or  the  Last  Supper. 


The  Catacombs— Paintings. 


Description  of  Plate  IV. 

Via  Appia — S.  Calixtus. 

An  Agape  (?),  or  the  Last  Supper. 

This  painting  has  more  the  appearance  of  being  really  intended 
for  the  Last  Supper  than  most  of  the  paintings  of  this  class.  The 
central  figure  has  a  certain  dignity  about  it.  Upon  the  round  plates 
on  the  table  are  fishes,  and  the  eight  baskets  are  full  of  bread.  It 
may  be  a  Christian  painting  of  a  bad  period,  and  intended  to  com¬ 
memorate  some  of  our  Lord’s  miracles.  The  principal  lines  on  the 
edges  of  the  dresses  have  been  renewed.  This  painting  is  under  an 
arco-solium  in  the  chapel  of  the  Sacraments,  the  burial-place  of  the 
Bishops  of  Rome  in  the  third  century.  All  the  paintings  in  that 
part  of  this  great  catacomb  that  is  usually  open  to  the  public, 
and  in  which  masses  are  said  on  certain  occasions,  have  long  been 
said  by  well-informed  persons  to  have  been  restored  within  the  last 
twenty  years,  but  this  is  now  denied  by  the  Roman  Catholic  autho¬ 
rities.  To  English  eyes  a  restoration  is  quite  another  matter  from 
an  original  painting,  it  is  like  a  copy  of  a  Raphael  compared  with 
the  original. 

An  engraving  of  this  painting  is  given  by  Bosio  in  the  sixth  arco- 
solium  of  this  catacomb,  p.  523 ;  he  calls  it  Christ  and  the  Apostles. 
It  is  also  given  by  Perret  in  the  modern  French  style,  vol.  i.  p.  28 ; 
and  by  Dr.  Northcote  in  plate  xiii.,  much  embellished  by  colour, 
and  improved  by  the  skill  of  modern  artists. 


CATACOM  BS-S.  CALIXTUS 


AN  AGAPE?  OR  THE  LAST  SUPPER? 


1 


THE  CATACOMBS 


PLATE  V. 

VIA  SALARIA—S.  PRISCILLA. 
The  Wine  Casks. 

VIA  A  P  P  I  A— S.  C  A  L I X  T  U  S. 
Christ  and  the  Church  (?). 


The  Catacombs— Paintings. 


Description  of  Plate  V. 

Via  Salaria,  S.  Priscilla— The  Wine  Casks. 

i.  This  painting  probably  belongs  to  the  time  of  John  I.,  a.d. 
525,  who  renewed  this  cemetery,  as  we  are  told  by  Anastasius. 
Allegorical  meanings  are  attached  to  this  painting  by  the  Roman 
authorities.  Protestant  writers  consider  it  only  as  the  burial-place 
of  a  wine-merchant.  It  is  engraved  by  Bosio,  p.  557.  In  the  back¬ 
ground,  on  the  wall,  are  graffiti  (or  scratchings)  of  the  names  of 
antonivs  bosivs  orativs — de  NOBiLiBVS,  &c.,  and  in  front  is  a  tomb¬ 
stone,  with  the  inscription  bonaviae  conjvgi  sanctissimae.  Since 
this  photograph  was  taken,  this  inscription  has  been  removed  by 
the  authorities. 

Via  Appia,  S.  Calixtus — Christ  and  the  Church  (?). 

These  two  figures,  one  on  either  side  of  a  small  table,  on  which 
are  two  dishes,  one  with  a  fish  upon  it  and  the  other  with  bread, 
are  supposed  to  represent  our  Lord  after  the  Resurrection,  and  the 
Christian  Church  in  the  form  of  a  woman,  with  he  hands  uplifted 
in  the  oriental  attitude  of  prayer,  such  as  is  usually  called  in  the 
Catacombs  an  Orante.  This  explanation  is  of  course  conjectural 
only,  but  seems  not  improbable.  The  painting  is  so  much  damaged 
that  it  is  difficult  to  tell  to  what  period  it  belongs.  The  photograph, 
No.  1805,  or  the  phototype  plate  of  the  original,  should  be  compared 
with  Dr.  Northcote’s  very  pretty  restoration  of  it  in  plate  xiv.  of  his 
volume.  At  first  sight,  one  could  hardly  believe  that  they  are  meant 
for  the  same  drawing.  A  part  of  this  great  catacomb  is  as  early  as 
the  second  century,  but  there  are  no  paintings  in  it  earlier  than  the 
fourth  or  fifth.  Sixtus  III.,  a.d.  432 — 440,  is  recorded  to  have 
made  a  platonia  in  this  catacomb ;  this  word  is  probably  a  mediae¬ 
val  corruption  of  platea ,  an  area  in  a  house,  the  walls  faced  with 
stone  (?)  or  paved  (?),  as  in  Lampridius,  Heliogabalus,  24,  “  stravit 
et  saxis  Lacedemoniis  ac  porphyreticis  plodeas  in  Palatio ,  quas  Anto- 
ninianas  vocavit."  In  this  passage  stravit  may  mean  covering  the 
walls  with  slabs  of  porphyry  also,  as  well  as  the  floor.  It  is  evident 
that  in  several  instances  the  word  platonia  is  applied  by  Anastasius 
to  a  chapel  lined  with  marble  plates  for  inscriptions,  as  at  S.  Sebas¬ 
tian’s.  Some  of  the  paintings  are  likely  to  be  of  the  fifth  century, 
others  belong  to  the  restoration  of  Pope  Leo  III.,  a.d.  795. 


CATACOM  BS 


S  .  PRISCILLAtTHE  wine  casks 


S.  CALIXTUSrCHRIST  AND  THE  CHURCH 


THE  CATACOMBS. 

PLATE  VI. 

VIA  SALARIA  —  S.  PRISCILLA. 

i.  An  Orante  and  another  Figure. 

2.  An  Orante,  with  a  Mother  and  Child  (?),  or  a  Madonna. 


The  Catacombs — Paintings. 


Description  of  Plate  VI. 

Via  Salaria — S.  Priscilla. 

i.  An  Orante  and  another  Figure. 

2.  An  Orante,  with  a  Mother  and  Child  (?),  or  a  Madonna. 

This  fresco  has  evidently  been  re-touched  or  renewed,  but  the 
original  outline  is  probably  preserved,  and  belongs  to  a  rude  period 
of  art,  apparently  part  of  the  work  of  John  I.,  a.d.  523,  who  reneived 
this  cemetery,  as  has  been  said,  and  the  authority  for  that  is  given 
in  the  Chapter  on  the  subject.  The  Orantes  are  always  allowed  to 
be  the  representation  of  the  deceased  person  interred  near  that  spot. 
The  other  figures  are  likely  to  be  other  members  of  the  family. 

To  the  second  picture  symbolical  meanings  are  attached  by  the 
Roman  Catholic  authorities.  The  best  summary  of  these  is  in  the 
Dictionary  of  Christian  Antiquities,  by  the  Abbe  Martigny.  This 
Orante  is  by  some  considered  as  intended  for  the  Madonna,  by 
others  for  the  Christian  Church.  Where  so  little  real  evidence 
remains  there  is  room  for  conjecture,  and  there  is  no  need  to  dog¬ 
matize  on  the  subject,  or  pretend  to  settle  such  very  doubtful  points, 
on  which  each  will  retain  his  own  opinion  according  to  previous 
ideas.  The  object  of  this  work  is  to  elucidate  the  truth  by  the 
principle  of  comparison,  and  on  carefully  comparing  the  drawing  of 
these  frescoes  with  that  of  dated  examples  of  art  not  Christian,  it  is 
impossible  to  assign  so  early  a  date  to  them  as  those  usually  given 
to  them  by  the  Roman  Catholic  authorities  upon  theological  grounds, 
not  artistic.  These  figures  were  probably  restored  under  Nicholas  I., 
a.d.  858 — 867.  Bosio  gives  an  engraving  of  this,  p.  529,  and  calls 
it  a  Madonna,  and  the  consecration  of  a  Deacon. 

The  manner  in  which  modern  artists  improve  upon  these  old 
paintings  can  also  be  seen  by  comparing  the  photographs  No.  610  a, 
610  b.  These  photographs  can  be  seen  in  the  Bodleian  Library  and 
the  Ashmolean  Museum,  Oxford  ;  the  South  Kensington  Museum 
and  the  British  Museum,  London. 


CATACOMBS, S.  PRISCILLA 


AN  ORANTE  WITH  MOTHER  AMD  CHILD 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


PLATE  VII. 

VIA  PORTUENSIS— S.  PONTIANUS. 

i.  Head  of  Christ  in  an  Aureole. 

2.  SS.  Marcellinus,  Pollion,  Petrus. 


The  Catacombs— Paintings. 


Description  of  Plate  VII. 

Via  Portuensis — S.  Pontianus. 

i.  Head  of  Christ  in  an  Aureole. 

2.  SS.  Marcellinus,  Pollion,  Petrus. 

This  cemetery  or  catacomb  is  on  the  western  side  of  the  Tiber, 
about  half-a-mile  beyond  the  Porta  Portuensis,  on  the  road  to  Porto, 
but  on  the  hill  above,  and  on  a  higher  level  than  the  road  in  what  is 
now  a  vineyard.  The  soil  in  which  this  catacomb  is  made  is  quite 
different  from  the  others ;  instead  of  the  granular  tufa,  or  volcanic 
sand,  which  is  the  soil  generally  used  for  them  near  the  Via  Appia 
and  the  Via  Ardeatina,  this  is  an  alluvial  soil  formed  by  the  action 
of  water  on  the  bank  of  the  Tiber.  Whether  from  this  cause,  or  from 
some  others  that  have  not  been  explained,  the  paintings  in  this 
catacomb  are  far  more  perfect  than  those  in  any  other ;  they  are  the 
most  celebrated  and  the  most  popular,  and  those  that  have  been 
more  often  engraved  and  published  than  any  others.  Unfortunately 
they  all  belong  to  a  very  late  period  and  a  bad  style  of  art,  being  of 
the  time  of  Nicholas  I.,  a.d.  858—867,  who  restored  this  cemetery. 

The  picture  of  the  head  of  Christ  is  a  very  fine  one,  in  an  aureole 
or  circular  nimbus,  with  the  cross  on  it,  called  also  a  cruciform  nim¬ 
bus.  This  head  has  been  many  times  engraved  and  published,  and 
it  is  amusing  to  compare  those  commonly  sold  in  the  shops  of  Rome 
with  the  original  as  shewn  in  the  photograph,  (see  the  Photographs, 
No.  463,  607  a,  608  b).  These  will  illustrate  the  manner  in  which 
the  clever  modern  artists  have  improved  upon  the  originals ;  it  is 
difficult  to  understand  that  they  are  intended  for  the  same  picture. 
It  is  engraved  by  Bosio,  p.  29,  honestly,  but  according  to  the  bad 
style  of  his  day. 

The  figures  of  the  three  Saints  are  in  the  style  of  the  ninth  cen¬ 
tury,  and  are  painted  on  a  brick  wall  of  that  period,  across  one  of 
the  corridors  built  when  it  was  restored  for  the  pilgrims.  All  beyond 
this  wall  is  in  so  bad  a  state  that  it  would  not  pay  to  repair  it,  the 
builders  therefore  shut  it  out  effectually  by  building  the  wall  across 
the  narrow  passage  to  that  part  of  the  Catacombs.  These  painting 
now  face  the  visitor,  and  the  wall  stops  him  and  compels  him  to 
return,  but  as  the  rock  on  one  side  has  been  broken  away,  it  is 
possible  to  crawl  behind  the  wall ;  the  rest  of  the  cemetery  is  a  mere 
heap  of  ruins.  These  three  Saints  were  all  martyrs  in  the  last  great 
persecution  under  Diocletian,  at  the  end  of  the  third  century ;  the 
Peter  of  the  Catacombs  usually  is  the  Roman  local  saint  of  that 
name,  and  not  the  Apostle  S.  Peter. 


CATACOMBS  S.  PONTIANUS 


HEAD  OP  CHRIST 


THE  CATACOMBS. 

PLATE  VIII. 

VIA  PORTUENSIS— S.  PONTIANUS. 
i.  The  Jewelled  Cross.  2.  The  Baptism  of  Christ. 


Tiie  Catacombs— Paintings. 


Description  of  Plate  VIII. 

Via  Portuensis — S.  Pontianus. 
i.  The  Jewelled  Cross.  2.  The  Baptism  of  Christ. 

These  are  two  of  the  most  celebrated  and  popular  frescoes  in  the 
Catacombs,  which  are  seen  in  all  the  shops  where  such  things  are 
sold,  but  the  modern  artists  who  have  copied  them  have  improved 
them  so  much  that  they  can  hardly  be  recognised  as  the  same,  the 
proportions  being  so  different.  (Compare  the  Photographs,  No.  609  a, 
609  b,  to  see  the  difference.)  A  similar  jewelled  cross  occurs  in  the 
mosaic  picture  in  S.  Pudentiana.  The  jewelled  cross  was  called  the 
Cross  of  Glory,  the  plain  was  the  Cross  of  Shame,  to  mark  the  degra¬ 
dation  to  which  our  Lord  submitted  for  our  sins.  The  fact  of  its 
being  jewelled  also  indicates  the  period;  during  the  eighth  and 
ninth  centuries  it  was  the  custom  for  the  ladies  to  wear  pearls  and 
other  jewels  in  this  fashion,  and  beads  to  assist  devotion  also  came 
in  at  that  time. 

The  Baptism  of  Christ  is  another  very  favourite  picture  from  the 
Catacombs,  also  belonging  to  the  same  period,  the  ninth  century. 
It  is  under  an  arched  recess  at  the  bottom  of  which  is  a  well,  said 
to  have  been  used  for  baptism  by  the  early  Christians  in  the  times 
of  persecution.  Whether  this  is  true  or  not,  there  is  no  doubt  that  it 
was  so  used  in  the  miracle-plays,  by  which  the  people  were  taught  in 
the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  when  they  could  not  read,  and  by 
which  the  common  people  and  children  are  still  taught  by  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  who  consider  teaching  by  the  eye  as  the 
best  mode  of  teaching.  Children  remember  what  they  have  seen 
far  better  than  what  they  have  only  read  or  heard.  Those  who  have 
seen  the  miracle-plays  at  Amergau  agree  that  it  is  an  admirable 
mode  of  teaching  ignorant  people.  The  Pope  and  the  Cardinals 
performed  a  series  of  miracle-plays  in  S.  Peter’s,  according  to  the 
old  custom,  for  many  centuries,  and  this  custom  is  still  kept  up  to 
a  great  extent,  although  the  Pope  himself  no  longer  takes  his  part 
in  them.  Unfortunately  the  dresses  designed  by  Michael  Angelo, 
and  still  worn  in  S.  Peter’s,  have  now  very  much  the  effect  of  scenes 
in  the  Opera.  The  images  now  used  in  the  churches  of  Rome  at 
the  principal  Christian  seasons,  being  in  the  costumes  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  have  also  very  much  the  same  effect. 


CATACOMBS  S.  PONT1ANUS 


THE  JEWELLED  CROSS 


THE  BAPTISM  OP  CHRIST 


Photogravure  Dujardin 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


PLATE  IX. 

VIA  APPIA.  —  PRA2TEXTATUS. 


Plan  and  Section. 


The  Catacombs. 


Description  of  Plate  IX. 

VIA  APPIA.— PRETEXT ATUS. 

Plan  and  Section. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  underground  cemeteries  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Rome ;  it  is  situated  in  the  district  called  ad 
catacumbas,  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  road,  nearly  opposite  to  the 
Church  of  S.  Sebastian,  under  a  large  vineyard,  and  it  extends  to  a  con¬ 
siderable  distance,  in  different  directions,  both  along  the  Via  Appia 
and  also  along  the  cross-road.  The  catacomb,  or  cemetery  for  the 
worship  of  Mithras,  commonly  called  “  of  the  Gnostics,”  is  believed 
to  have  been  connected  with  this,  although  the  corridor  has  not 
been  excavated.  In  the  eastern  direction,  it  extends  very  near  to 
the  Church  of  S.  Urban,  and  it  is  thought  by  many  that  one  of 
the  entrances  to  it  was  through  that  church,  although  this  also  has 
not  been  excavated ;  and  others  say  there  was  no  such  connection. 
The  small  sketch-map  of  the  district,  given  in  the  corner  of  the 
Plate,  shews  the  situation  of  it.  The  entrance  now  used  is  modern, 
made  by  the  Pontifical  authorities  within  a  few  years.  The  sec¬ 
tion  A — B  is  on  the  line  of  an  ancient  sand-pit  road,  with  doorways 
from  it  into  the  catacomb,  and  a  brick  wall  of  the  first  century, 
shewn  in  the  plate  and  photograph.  The  section  C — D  is  taken 
across  this,  as  shewn  in  the  plan,  and  is  intended  to  shew  the 
supposed  connection  with  the  Church  of  S.  Urban,  on  the  bank 
of  the  valley  of  the  Caffarella,  marked  5  a  on  the  plan.  C  is  a  con¬ 
tinuation  of  B,  and  the  dotted  lines  mark  the  supposed  line  of 
a  passage,  or  corridor,  or  street,  from  this  point  to  S.  Urban’s. 
Near  to  C  there  was  an  entrance,  open  a  few  years  since,  but 
a  modem  brick  wall  was  built  across  it  by  the  Pontifical  authorities, 
because  it  was  not  convenient  to  have  an  access  in  that  direction. 

a  By  an  unfortunate  mistake  of  the  ground,  will  see  at  once  that  S.  Sebas- 
artist,  the  names  of  the  two  churches,  tian  is  the  church  on  the  opposite  side 
S.  Urban  and  S.  Sebastian,  are  re-  of  the  Via  Appia,  marked  6. 
versed.  Any  one  who  knows  the 


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rv  * 


THE  CATACOMBS. 

PLATE  X. 

PRyETEXTATUS. — CHAPEL  AT  THE  ENTRANCE. 


I 


The  Catacombs. 


Description  of  Plate  X. 

PRETEXT ATUS.— CHAPEL  AT  THE  ENTRANCE. 

This  is  one  of  the  chapels  near  one  of  the  original  entrances, 
at  the  angle  of  the  Via  Appia  and  the  Diverticulum,  or  cross¬ 
road,  which  goes  from  that  old  road  just  opposite  to  S.  Sebastian’s, 
to  the  Via  Appia  Nova,  near  the  Tor  Fiscale.  This  cross-road 
passes  by  S.  Urbano,  at  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  old 
road,  and  passes  over  the  old  sand-pit  road,  which  has  in  parts 
been  vaulted  over  to  bring  it  to  the  present  level  of  the  road ; 
it  has  been  originally  a  deep  foss-way,  twenty  feet  deep,  with  the 
old  entrance  to  the  cemetery  made  in  it.  It  is  one  of  the  two 
chapels  near  together,  and  near  the  top  of  a  deep  flight  of  steps 
down  into  the  cemetery ;  this  is  on  the  plan  of  the  Greek  cross, 
as  will  be  seen.  The  construction  of  the  walls  is  of  the  fourth 
century,  when  similar  chapels  were  built  at  the  entrance  to  many 
of  the  Catacombs,  immediately  after  the  peace  of  the  Church 
had  been  declared  by  Constantine.  There  are  similar  chapels  at 
the  entrance  to  S.  Sebastian’s,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road,  and 
many  others  at  the  entrance  to  other  cemeteries  or  catacombs,  but 
this  and  the  one  close  to  it,  shewn  in  the  next  Plate,  are  the  most 
perfect  that  we  have  now  remaining ;  they  appear  to  have  been 
what  we  should  now  call  cemetery  chapels  for  the  burial  service, 
and  for  the  assembly  of  the  family  on  the  anniversaries,  in  place 
of  the  small  brick  vaults  which  had  previously  been  used  for  that 
purpose,  but  were  inconveniently  small b. 

b  The  chapels  at  S.  Sebastian’s  are  shewn  in  the  Photographs,  Nos.  285,  286, 
287,  288. 


CATACOMBS  —  PRAETEXTATUS.  CIIAPEI 


’ '  . 


THE  CATACOMBS 


PLATE  XI. 

PRETEXT ATUS.— CHAPEL  AT  THE  ENTRANCE. 


The  Catacombs. 


Description  of  Plate  XI. 

PRTETEXTATUS. — CHAPEL  AT  THE  ENTRANCE. 

This  is  another  of  these  interesting  chapels,  very  near  to  the 
former  one,  but  on  a  different  plan,  which  forms  a  series  of  semi¬ 
circular  arched  recesses,  or  apses,  arranged  round  a  circular  centre. 
The  construction  of  the  walls  is  of  the  fourth  century. 

The  reason  of  these  two  being  so  near  together  probably  was, 
that  they  belonged  to  different  branches  of  the  great  family  of 
Prsetextatus,  which  was  a  very  numerous  clan,  or  gens,  as  we  see 
from  many  inscriptions  and  notices  of  them  in  the  first  three  cen¬ 
turies.  Probably,  as  the  number  increased,  it  was  necessary  to 
provide  this  extra  accommodation.  At  S.  Sebastian’s  the  chapels 
are  more  numerous,  for  this  was  the  original  entrance  to  several 
catacombs,  and  was  at  first  called  The  Catacomb.  There  might 
have  been  a  passage  from  that  of  Prsetextatus  to  S.  Sebastian’s,  but 
as  it  would  have  to  pass  under  the  Via  Appia,  it  is  more  probable 
that  the  catacombs  on  either  side  of  this  great  highway  were 
kept  distinct. 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


PLATE  XII. 

PRtETEXTATUS. 

One  of  the  Original  Entrances. 


The  Catacombs. 


Description  of  Plate  XII. 

PR^ETEXTATUS. 

One  of  the  Original  Entrances. 

This  half-ruined  corridor  is  at  the  bottom  of  a  deep  flight  of 
steps,  the  top  of  which  is  close  to  the  two  chapels  shewn  in  the 
two  preceding  plates.  These  steps  are  original,  but  they  are  covered 
with  briars,  and  at  the  foot  of  them  is  a  door,  which  is  regularly 
kept  locked  by  the  Pontifical  authorities,  and  the  only  entrance 
practicable  (in  1875)  to  this  part  of  the  catacomb  was  down  a  ladder. 
The  intermediate  floor  being  destroyed,  the  plan  shews  the  places 
for  three  floors  or  storeys,  one  over  the  other.  It  is  too  much 
mutilated  for  anything  more  to  be  seen.  The  loculi  and  arco-solia 
in  each  storey  can  be  made  out,  and  it  gives  an  idea  of  the  present 
rough  state  of  neglect  in  which  this  Catacomb  remains. 


CATACOMB  OF  PRAETEXTATUS 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


PLATE  XIII. 

FIRST  CUBICULUM,  WITH  PAGAN  FIGURES. 


Tiie  Catacombs. 


Description  of  Plate  XIII. 

FIRST  CUBICULUM,  WITH  PAGAN  FIGURES. 

In  the  first  cubiculum ,  or  burial-vault,  in  going  from  the  foot  of 
the  steps  on  the  left,  the  paintings  remain  tolerably  perfect  in  one 
part,  and  are  probably  of  the  third  century.  The  vault  is  of  the 
usual  character,  with  many  loculi  or  single  graves  cut  in  the  tufa 
rock  on  each  side,  and  at  the  end  an  arco-solium ,  or  place  for  a  sar¬ 
cophagus,  or  perhaps  for  two,  a  man  and  his  wife,  or  the  bodies  may 
have  been  buried  under  the  arch  without  stone  coffins. 

In  the  upper  part  of  the  Plate  is  a  group  of  three  figures,  well 
drawn,  in  attitudes  of  speaking  in  agitation,  but  with  none  of  the 
usual  attributes  of  Christian  or  Scriptural  subjects.  This  is  im¬ 
portant,  as  shewing  that  the  great  cemetery  or  catacomb  of  the 
family  of  Praetextatus  was  on  the  same  footing  as  the  columbaria  in 
the  other  tombs  on  the  Via  Appia,  near  to  it ;  the  same  laws  and 
the  same  customs  applied  to  all  alike.  When  the  family  became 
Christian,  then  the  paintings  of  their  burial-vaults  are  Christian, 
and  Scriptural  also. 


FIRST  CUP.ICULIIM,  WITH  PAGAN  FIGURES 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


PLATE  XIV. 

PRiETEXTATUS, 

Pagan  Figures  ob'  the  Third  Century  in  the  First  Cubiculum. 


The  Catacombs. 


Description  of  Plate  XIV. 
PR^ETEXTATUS. 

Pagan  Figures  of  the  Third  Century  in  the  first  Cubiculum. 

These  figures  are  further  evidence  that  the  great  family  of  Prse- 
textatus,  to  whom  this  extensive  cemetery  belonged,  were  not 
Christians,  or  at  least  not  exclusively  Christians,  in  the  third  century. 
In  the  next  cubiculum  to  this,  a  few  yards  further  on,  and  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  corridor,  the  paintings  are  Christian,  and  these 
have  been  published  by  De  Rossi,  and  in  the  excellent  abridgment 
of  his  great  work  by  Messrs.  Brownlow  and  Northcote;  but  not 
a  word  is  said  by  them  about  these  Pagan  pictures,  which  do  not 
agree  with  the  Vatican  theory,  that  the  Catacombs  were  exclusively 
Christian.  It  is  probable  that  one  branch  of  the  great  family  of 
Prastextatus  were  worshippers  of  Mithras,  and  that  the  burial-vault 
in  which  the  paintings  of  these  subjects  are  found,  was  also  part  of 
the  same  great  cemetery. 

Unfortunately  no  more  photographs  are  now  (in  1875)  permitted 
to  be  taken  in  the  Catacombs,  and  as  that  is  the  case  we  are  obliged 
to  be  content  with  drawings,  which  although  rough-looking,  are  not 
more  rude  than  the  originals,  and  give  a  better  idea  of  them  than 
more  highly-finished  drawings  would  do. 


CATACOMB  OF  PRAETEXTATUS 


FIGURES  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


PLATE  XV. 

FRESCO  PAINTING  IN  A  CATACOMB  OF  THE 
WORSHIPPERS  OF  MITHRAS. 


The  Catacombs. 


Description  of  Plate  XV. 

FRESCO  PAINTING  IN  A  CATACOMB 

OF  THE 

WORSHIPPERS  OF  MITHRAS. 

This  picture  is  supposed  to  represent  seven  priests  of  Mithras 
seated  at  a  table  (septe  pii  sacerdotes).  In  the  centre  is  the 
priest  vincentivs.  He  and  two  others  wear  the  Phrygian  cap. 
It  is  undoubtedly  Mithraic.  The  number  7  was  a  favourite  in 
that  worship.  The  seven  planets  (to  which  great  reverence  was 
made  in  that  worship),  the  seven  stairs,  by  which  the  believer 
ascended  into  heaven,  and  the  seven  degrees  of  initiation,  support 
the  idea0. 


c  See  Dr.  Henzen’s  paper  ( inter  alia)  in  the  Bullettino  dell  1st.  di  Corrisp. 

Arch.,  1868,  pp.  97,  98. 


WORSHIPPERS 


VINCENTIUS  PII  SACERDOTES 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


PLATE  XVI. 


CATACOMBS  OF  THE  WORSHIPPERS  OF  MITHRAS. 


The  Catacombs. 


* 


Description  of  Plate  XVI. 

CATACOMBS  OF  THE  WORSHIPPERS  OF  MITHRAS. 

This  picture  is  supposed  to  represent  the  Judgment  of  the  Soul. 
We  see  a  good  angel,  introducing  a  woman,  called  Vibia,  to  several 
persons.  Over  them  is  written  indvctio  vibies.  Under  the  arch 
are  six  figures,  with  Vibia  in  the  centre,  and  over  their  heads  the 
inscription,  bonorvm  ivdicio  ivdicati. 

There  is  nothing  like  this  in  the  plates  to  Lajard’s  great  work d, 
nor  any  allusion  to  such  a  proceeding  in  any  of  the  ancient  authors. 
A  German  set  of  bas-reliefs  in  Lajard  shews  the  purgatorial  cleans¬ 
ing  of  the  believer,  his  ascension  of  the  seven  stairs,  and  his  final 
acceptance  by  the  crowned  Mithras.  Yet  this  representation  should 
be  Mithraic.  Vibia,  who  is  introduced,  is  the  wife  of  Vincentius, 
a  Mithraic  priest,  and  is  buried  with  him  in  the  same  cemetery. 
But  there  is  considerable  doubt  on  the  subject  of  this  picture6. 

d  Lajard  (J.  B.  F. )  Reserches  sur  le  e  See  Garmcci’s  book  upon  these 
culte  publie  et  les  mystires  de  Mithra,  en  and  other  paintings,  Les  mystcres  du 
Orient  et  en  Occident.  Livr.  i  to  13  (all  Syncretisme  Phrygien,  p.  23. 
published),  sm.  folio,  Paris,  1847-8. 


' 


. 


CATACOMB  OF  THE  GNOSTICS  ?  OR  OF  MITHRAS? 


THE  CATACOMBS, 


PLATE  XVII. 


SS.  PETER  AND  MARCELLINUS — AN  AGAPE. 


The  Catacombs. 


Description  of  Plate  XVII. 

SS.  PETER  AND  MARCELLINUS — AN  AGAPE. 

This  is  distinctly  one  of  the  commemorative  funeral  family  feasts 
which  are  so  well  known  as  a  custom  of  the  Roman  people  for 
many  centuries,  and  which  custom  was  not  discontinued  when  they 
became  Christians.  There  is  nothing  to  indicate  whether  the 
family  here  represented  were  Christians  or  not.  It  represents  five 
persons  seated  at  a  triclinium,  a  table  with  provisions  before  it, 
in  the  middle,  and  a  boy-servant  standing  by  the  table,  holding  up 
a  goblet. 

That  the  feast  represented  is  funereal  may  be  inferred  from  the 
words  va  lete,  written  partly  on  one  side  and  partly  on  the  other 
side  of  the  picture,  viz.  va  and  lete. 

The  names  of  the  five  persons  consist  of  two  each,  with  one  ex¬ 
ception  (the  boy  being  unnamed).  These  names,  under  any  cir¬ 
cumstances,  are  remarkable  : — 

1.  VOLSCUS  PUPPEUS. 

2.  POMPONIUS  FABIUS. 

3.  Two  names  illegible,  under  No.  1 ;  the  first  having  its  ter¬ 
mination  in  “a.” 

4.  fabianu(s),  in  the  centre,  with  no  other  name. 

5.  Two  names  quite  illegible. 

The  date  of  this  fresco-painting  is  believed  to  be  a.d.  772,  when 
this  cemetery  was  restored  by  Pope  Hadrian  I. 


CATACOMBS  S.S.  PETER  AND  MARCELLINUS-  AN  AGAPE. 


Photogravure  Dujardin  ,  Paris 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


PLATE  XVIII. 

S.  AGNES. 


Plan  and  Section. 


The  Catacombs. 


Description  of  Plate  XVIII. 

S.  AGNES. 

.  Plan  and  Section. 

A.  Church  of  S.  Agnes,  with  the  Monastery  adjoining. 

B.  S.  Constantia — Church,  Mausoleum,  and  Baptistery. 

A — B.  Line  of  Section  along  the  west  end  of  the  Church  of 
S.  Agnes,  and  the  steps  descending  into  it. 

C — D.  Other  steps,  and  original  entrance  into  the  cemetery  or 
catacomb. 

E — F.  Section  of  a  Pagan  Tomb  communicating  with  the 
Catacomb. 

A  passage  from  the  Catacomb  under  the  Church  of  S.  Agnes  to 
that  under  S.  Constantia  is  also  shewn  by  the  shaded  line  from 
one  to  the  other. 

The  carriage-road  from  the  Porta  Pia  to  the  Ponte  Nomentana 
runs  along  the  front  of  the  Monastery  on  the  east  side,  and  a  cross¬ 
road  on  the  north  side  of  the  church  descends  very  rapidly  to  the 
level  of  the  floor  of  the  church.  At  the  east  end  there  is  an  entrance 
to  the  gallery,  which  at  that  end  is  on  the  same  level  as  the  road. 


CATACOMB  OF  S.  AGNES.  PLAN  AND  SECTIONS 


— " 


I ,  (Jwrvfu  of  S.  Agnes'.  H  .  S.  CcrmtajiUa 


THE  CATACOMBS. 

PLATE  XIX. 

S.  PONTIANUS. 


The  Catacombs. 


Description  of  Plate  XIX. 

S.  PONTIANUS. 

The  Baptistery,  with  the  Baptism  of  Christ  painted  on  the  wall, 
over  the  arch.  He  is  represented  standing  in  the  river  Jordan  up 
to  His  waist  in  water,  in  which  fishes  are  swimming,  and  at  which 
a  hart  is  drinking;  the  Holy  Dove  is  over  His  head.  S.  John 
Baptist  is  standing  on  the  bank,  and  pouring  water  on  His  head, 
or  perhaps  only  holding  out  his  hand  to  touch  it.  On  the  opposite 
side  is  another  figure  in  a  white  dress,  hiding  his  face.  All  the 
three  figures  have  the  nimbus.  Under  the  arch  and  over  the  well 
is  a  painting  of  the  jewelled  cross,  with  the  A  and  Q  hanging  from 
the  arms  of  the  cross,  and  what  appear  to  be  two  candlesticks 
standing  upon  them.  But  the  Plate  is  from  a  drawing  of  Perret,  and 
is  very  miserably  drawn.  The  proportions  of  the  cross  are  alto¬ 
gether  erroneous.  The  original  picture  is  of  the  ninth  century.  It 
was  not  found  practicable  to  reduce  the  Photographs,  Nos.  608  and 
609,  to  an  octavo  page. 


CATACOMB  OF  S  PONTIANUS 


BAPTISM  OF  CHRIST 
from  a  drawmS 


. 


•  , 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


PLATE  XX. 

TWO  INSCRIPTIONS  FROM  THE  CHURCH  OF 
S.  SEBASTIANUS  IN  CATACUMBIS. 


The  Catacombs. 

Description  of  Plate  XX. 

Church  of  S.  Sebastian  “  in  Catacumbis.” 

1.  Inscription  of  Pope  Damasus  in  honour  of  S.  Eutychius 
the  Martyr,  in  twelve  verses  (on  the  left  hand  on  entering  the 
church).  The  principal  object  of  this  Photo-engraving  is  to  shew 
the  beautiful  character  of  the  calligraphy  of  the  inscription  of  Pope 
Damasus.  These  inscriptions  are  very  numerous  in  the  Catacombs, 
and  all  of  this  beautiful  calligraphy,  and  usually  in  Latin  verse,  not 
without  elegance  of  style,  though  the  construction  of  the  sentences 
is  sometimes  not  clear.  Damasus  restored  all  the  Catacombs,  after 
they  had  been  damaged  during  the  persecution  under  Julian  the 
Apostate. 

EVTYCHIVS  .  MARTYR  .  CRVDELIA  .  IVSSA  .  TYRANNI 
CARNIFICVMQ  .  VIAS  .  PARITER  .  TVNC  .  MILLE  .  NOCENDI 
VINCeRE  .  QVOD  .  POTVIT  .  MONSTRAVIT  .  GLORIA  .  CHRISTI 
CARCeRIS  .  INLVVIEM  .  SEQVITVR  .  NOVA  .  POENA  .  PER  .  ARTVS 
TESTARVM  .  FRAGMENTA  .  PARANT  .  NE  .  SOMNVS  .  ADIRET 
BISSENI  .  TRANSIERE  .  DIES  .  ALIMENTA  .  NEGANTVR 
MITTITVR  .  IN  .  BARATHRUM  .  SANCtVS  .  LAVAT  .  OMNIA  .  SANGVIS 
VVLNERA  .  QVAE  .  INTVLERAT  .  MORTIS  .  METVENDA  .  POTESTAS 
NOCTE  .  SOPORIFERA  .  TVRBANT  .  INSOMNIA  .  MENTEM 
OSTENDIT  .  LATEBRA  .  INSONTIS  .  QVAE  .  MEMBRA  .  TENERET 
QVAERITVR  .  INVENTVS  .  COLITVR  .  FOVET  .  OMNIA  .  PRESTANS 
EXPRESSIT  .  DAMASVS  .  MERITVM  .  VENERARE  .  SEPVLChRVM  f 

‘  ‘  That  Eutychius  the  Martyr  was  able  to  overcome  the  cruel  orders  of  the 
tyrant,  and  equally  at  that  time  the  executioners’  thousand  ways  of  torment, 
the  glory  of  Christ  shewed.  A  new  punishment  follows  the  filth  of  the  prison. 
They  provide  breaking  of  tiles  on  his  limbs,  to  prevent  sleep  approaching.  Twice 
six  days  passed,  food  is  refused.  The  saint  is  thrown  into  a  pit,  blood  bedews 
all  the  wounds  which  the  dread  power  of  death  had  caused.  In  night,  which 
usually  brings  sleep,  sleeplessness  troubles  his  mind.  The  place  of  concealment 
which  held  the  limbs  of  the  innocent,  manifested  them  (?).  He  is  sought  for, 
being  found  he  is  reverenced,  he  benefits  all  things.  Damasus  shewed  forth 
his  exceeding  merit ;  venerate  his  tomb.” 

2.  Another  Inscription  in  the  same  Church  (over  a  door  on 
the  right-hand  side,  looking  towards  the  altar). 

VISITET  .  HIC  .  PIA  .  MENS  .  SCTORVM  .  BVSTA  .  FREQVENTER 
IN  .  CRISTO  .  QVORVM  .  GLORIA  .  PERPES  .  ERIT 


HIC.EST.  CEMETERIV.  BEATI .  CHALIXTI .  PAPE.  ET.  MARTIRIS.  INCLITI.  QVICVQVE 
ILLVD  .  COTRICTVS  .  ET  .  COFESSVS  .  INGRESSVS  .  FVERIT  .  PLENAM  .  REMISSIONE 
OMNIV  .  PECTORV.  SVORV .  OBTINEBIT  .  PER.  MERITA  .  GLORIOSA.  CENTV  .  SEPTVA- 
-GINTA  .  QVATVOR  .  MILIV  .  SCTORV  .  MARTIRV  .  QVORV  .  IBI  .  CORPORA  .  IN  .  PACE 
SEPVLTA  .  SVT  .  VNA  .  CV  .  .  QVADRAGINTA  .  SEX  .  PONTIFICIBVS  .  BEATIS 
QVI  .  OMNES  .  EX  .  MAGNA  .  TRIBVLATIONE  .  VENERVT  .  ET  .  VT  .  HEREDES  .  IN  .  DOMO 
DOMINI  .  FIERET  .  MORTIS  .  SVPPLICIVM  .  PRO  .  CRISTI  .  NOMINE  .  PERTVLERVNT 

“Here  let  the  pious  mind  often  visit  the  tombs  of  the  saints, 

Whose  glory  will  be  everlasting  in  Christ.” 

“Here  is  the  cemetery  of  the  blessed  Calixtus,  renowned  Pope  and  Martyr. 
Whoever  shall  have  entered  it  contrite  and  after  confession,  shall  obtain  full  re¬ 
mission  of  all  his  sins,  through  the  glorious  merits  of  174,000  martyr  saints,  whose 
bodies  are  buried  here  in  peace,  together  with  forty-six  blessed  pontiffs,  who  all 
came  out  of  great  tribulation,  and  suffered  the  punishment  of  death  for  Christ’s 
name,  that  they  might  become  heirs  in  the  Lord’s  house.” 

1  Or,  “the  excellent  Damasus  shewed  forth  his  merit  “prmstantia  Damasi”  occurs  as  the 
nominative  in  similar  inscriptions  in  De  Rossi. 


IN  ECCL.  S.  S  E  BAST1ANI  INSCRIPTIO  DAMASIANA 


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IN  ECCL.  S,  SEBASTIAN!,  INSCRIPTIO 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


PLATE  XXI. 

CHURCH  OF  S.  SEBASTIAN 
Pictures  in  a  Chapel. 


The  Catacombs. 


Description  of  Plate  XXL 

Church  of  S.  Sebastian.  Pictures  in  a  Chapel. 

The  small  chapel  in  which  these  pictures  remain  is  on  the  stairs 
that  descend  from  the  choir  of  the  church  to  the  Platonia,  a  large 
crypt  or  subterranean  chapel,  with  an  altar  and  confessio  of  the  twelfth 
century  in  the  middle  of  it.  The  walls  were  lined  with  inscriptions, 
now  destroyed.  The  small  chapel  on  the  stairs  could  only  have 
been  a  sacrarium;  there  is  only  room  for  the  altar  and  the  priests 
to  stand. 

1.  In  the  upper  picture,  over  the  heads  of  the  saints,  the  figure 
on  the  left  has  the  papal  crown  of  early  character ;  the  one  to  the 
right  has  the  hands  uplifted,  and  holds  in  his  left  hand  the  eucha- 
ristic  wafer,  with  a  cross  upon  it,  in  his  right  a  string  of  beads. 
Between  the  two  is  an  archangel,  whose  wings  are  uplifted.  Under 
the  figures  is  an  inscription  at  the  back  of  the  altar. 

+  HIC  HABITARE  PRIVS  SANCTOS  COGNOSCERE  DEBES 
+  NOMINA  QVISQVE  PETRI  PAVLI  PARITERQVE  REQVIRIS 
+  DISCIPLOS  ORIENS  MISIT  QVOD  SPONTE 
(Two  hexameters  and  part  of  a  third,  the  contractions  expanded.) 

‘  ‘  Here  you  are  to  know  that  saints  once  dwelt. 

Every  one  who  lookest  for  the  names  of  Peter  and  of  Paul  alike. 

That  the  East  sent  out  the  disciples  spontaneously.  .  .  .” 

2.  Heads  of  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul  in  the  same  chapel,  on  a  landing- 
place  of  the  stairs.  These  paintings  are  believed  to  be  of  the 
eleventh  century,  from  the  style  of  drawing,  the  calligraphy  of  the  in¬ 
scription,  and  the  costume  of  the  heads,  with  beards,  and  long  hair. 


IN  ECCL.S.  SEBASTIAN  I  PICTUR/E  IN  CAPELLA 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


PLATE  XXII. 

BASILICA  OF  S.  PETRONILLA. 

On  the  Via  Ardeatina,  and  Via  di  Sette  Chiese,  about 
HALF-WAY  BETWEEN  S.  SEBASTIAN’S  AND  S.  PAUL’S. 


The  Catacombs. 


Description  of  Plate  XXII. 

BASILICA  OF  S.  PETRONILLA. 

On  the  Via  Ardeatina,  and  Via  di  Sette  Chiese,  about 
HALF  WAY  BETWEEN  S.  SEBASTIAN’S  AND  S.  PAUL’S. 

1.  The  portions,  or  porch  and  entrance,  with  part  of  the  nave. 

2.  The  apse,  with  an  opening  into  the  large  catacomb  of  SS. 
Nereus  and  Achilleus,  Petronilla,  &c. 

The  remains  of  this  church  were  excavated  in  1873-74  by  the 
Pontifical  Government,  at  the  expense  of  the  late  Monsignor  De 
Merode,  who  bought  a  large  tract  of  ground  in  that  part  of  the 
Campagna.  Monsignor  De  Merode  unfortunately  died  before  the 
work  was  completed.  In  1875,  after  the  death  of  Monsignor  De 
Merode,  his  executors  rebuilt  the  church,  but  the  ancient  remains 
have  been  preserved  as  far  as  possible.  The  remains  of  the  altar 
are  on  the  chord  of  the  apse,  and  there  is  a  communication  from 
that  to  the  catacomb  behind  it,  and  this  is  now  used  again  as  the 
entrance  to  it. 

The  building  is  of  two  periods.  A  small  burial-vault  or  chapel 
at  the  entrance  of  a  great  public  cemetery  has  been  rebuilt  on  a 
much  larger  scale,  probably  by  John  I.,  in  a.d.  523,  who  restored 
so  many  of  the  catacombs  or  cemeteries  round  Rome.  The  words 
“  catacomb”  and  “  cemetery”  are  both  used  in  a  double  sense,  one 
general,  the  other  special.  In  the  general  sense  it  signifies  a  public 
burial-place,  often  of  great  extent,  consisting  of  a  great  number  of 
cubicida ,  or  burial-vaults,  generally  used  as  family  vaults,  connected 
by  long  narrow  corridors  or  passages,  called  also  streets,  in  the  walls 
of  which  other  interments  were  also  made  for  persons  who  had  not 
separate  vaults.  The  tombs  cut  in  the  rock  are  called  loculi.  The 
church  was,  no  doubt,  originally  a  cubiculum ,  situated  near  the  en¬ 
trance  to  one  of  the  principal  corridors.  One  entrance,  very  near 
to  the  church,  and  some  of  the  paintings  near  to  it  are  probably  of 
the  second  or  third  century. 

In  the  upper  view  we  see  the  marble  columns  of  the  nave,  some 
lying  about,  others  standing  on  their  original  bases,  shewing  a  wide 
nave  and  narrow  aisles. 

In  the  lower  view  the  apse  is  seen  more  perfect,  and  the  entrance 
to  the  catacomb  behind  it.  The  bases  of  the  columns  are  also  seen 
in  situ ,  and  remains  of  sarcophagi  in  the  floor  of  the  church.  This 
view  was  taken  in  1874,  when  the  excavations  were  in  progress. 


BASILICA  PETRONILL/E.  PORTICUS 


BASILICA  S.  PETRONILLjE  .  APSIS 


Photo ara.ou.re.  Dujardin ,  Varur 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


PLATE  XXIII. 

SS.  PETRONILLA,  NEREUS,  ACHILLEUS,  &c. 


The  Catacombs. 


Description  of  Plate  XXIII. 

SS.  PETRONILLA,  NEREUS,  ACHILLEUS,  &c. 

♦ 

A.  Painting  of  Christ  and  the  Apostles  on  the  vault  of  a  burial- 
chapel  or  cubiculum ,  part  of  the  restoration  of  John  I.,  a.d.  523, 
from  a  drawings. 

B.  Plan  of  that  part  of  the  Catacomb  which  connects  this  chapel 
with  the  Church  of  S.  Petronilla. 

e  Permission  to  take  photographs  in 
the  Catacombs  is  now  (in  1875)  refused 
by  the  Pontifical  authorities,  on  the 
shallow  pretext  that  the  smoke  of  a 
magnesian  lamp  may  injure  the  paint¬ 
ings,  although  the  lamp  must  necessa¬ 


rily  be  placed  with  the  photographic 
machine  at  the  opposite  end  of  the 
chamber,  in  order  to  get  a  view  at  all, 
whereas  the  wax  tapers  in  the  hands 
of  tourists  frequently  are  so  close  to 
the  pictures  as  almost  to  touch  them. 


CHRIST  AND  THE  APOSTLES— B.  PLAN  OF  CHURCH  AND  PART  OF  CATACOMB 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


PLATE  XXIV. 

S.  PRISCILLA. 
Plan. 


The  Catacombs. 


Description  of  Plate  XXIV. 

S.  PRISCILLA. 

Plan. 

A.  Original  entrance  by  a  flight  of  steps. 

B.  Present  entrance  by  a  modern  passage. 

C.  Capella  Graeca,  or  early  chapel  in  the  form  of  the  Greek  cross, 
with  paintings  on  the  walls. 

D.  Another  early  chapel,  of  which  the  altar  is  the  sarcophagus 
of  a  martyr. 

E.  Luminarium. 

F  F  F.  Other  burial-vaults. 


CATACOMB  OF  S.  PRISCILLA. — PLAN. 


9 

'•Vfc-Hw, 

'  **  F 

J 

THE  CATACOMBS. 


PLATE  XXV. 

NATURAL  SECTION  OF  S.  CYRIACA. 


The  Catacombs. 


Description  of  Plate  XXV. 

NATURAL  SECTION  OF  S.  CYRIACA. 

This  subject  has  already  been  partially  shewn  in  Plate  I.,  as  it 
appeared  in  1870,  but  the  process  of  enlarging  the  present  cemetery 
of  S.  Lorenzo  has  been  continued  down  to  1875,  and  some  more 
of  the  hill  has  been  cut  away,  bringing  to  light  other  remains  of  the 
ancient  cemetery  long  concealed  in  that  hill.  This  gives  a  better 
idea  of  the  manner  in  which  these  ancient  cemeteries  were  made 
than  any  architect’s  drawing  could  do.  We  see  here  the  corridors 
or  streets  ascending  and  descending,  as  the  tufa  rock  was  hard  or 
soft ;  the  loculi  for  single  bodies  cut  on  each  side  of  this  passage, 
the  arco-solia  for  the  burial  of  man  and  wife,  and  the  cubicula  for 
family  burial-vaults. 


CATACOMB  OF  S.  CYRIACA.— NATURAL  SECTION. 


THE  CATACOMBS, 


PLATE  XXVI. 

CHURCH  OF  S.  URBAN,  OR  S.  URBANO 
A  LA  CAFFARELLA. 


View  of  the  Interior. 


The  Catacombs. 


Description  of  Plate  XXVI. 

CHURCH  OF  S.  URBAN,  OR  S.  URBANO 
A  LA  CAFFARELLA. 

View  of  the  Interior. 

Whatever  the  original  use  of  this  building  may  have  been,  re¬ 
specting  which  there  are  different  opinions  (see  p.  141),  it  is  so 
close  to  part  of  the  great  catacomb  or  cemetery  of  the  family  of 
Prretextatus,  and  there  is  so  much  probability  of  its  having  been 
a  tomb  over  one  of  the  entrances  to  it,  that  the  account  of  that 
catacomb  would  be  hardly  complete  without  it.  One  of  the  many 
names  given  to  this  great  catacomb  or  cemetery  is  S.  Urban,  pro¬ 
bably  because  that  martyr  was  interred  in  one  of  the  cubicula,  and  it 
is  very  probable  also  that  the  steps  under  the  altar  of  the  church  de¬ 
scended  into  it.  Some  of  the  tombs  on  the  Via  Appia  and  the  Via 
Latina  are  as  large  as  this,  and  one  over  the  well-known  painted 
chambers  on  the  Via  Latina  has  also  a  portico  to  it,  as  this  has. 
The  paintings  indicated  in  the  view  are  those  attributed  to  the 
hermit  Bonozzio,  in  ion,  upon  an  inscription,  and  they  have  very 
much  the  same  character  as  the  later  pictures  in  some  of  the  Cata¬ 
combs.  The  pictures  at  the  two  ends  have  been  restored,  those  on 
the  sides  are  genuine,  and  are  of  the  usual  Scriptural  subjects; 
a  whole  series  of  engravings  would  be  necessary  to  illustrate  them, 
and  this  has  been  done  in  a  separate  work  by  Canina. 


'V 


CHURCH  OF  S.  URBAN 


\ 


if 

||i 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


PLATE  XXVII. 

CHURCH  OF  S.  URBAN. 

CONFESSIO  UNDER  THE  ALTAR,  AND  FRESCO  PAINTING  IN  IT. 


The  Catacombs. 


Description  of  Plate  XXVII. 

CHURCH  OF  S.  URBAN. 

CONFESSIO  UNDER  THE  ALTAR,  AND  FRESCO  PAINTING  IN  IT. 

This  small  chapel  is  very  much  deeper  than  the  confessio  usually 
is,  and  has  all  the  appearance  of  having  been  made  on  the  staircase 
descending  into  a  catacomb,  in  a  similar  manner  to  the  chapel  on 
the  stairs  to  the  Platonia  at  S.  Sebastian’s  (see  Plate  XXI.).  The 
steps  have  all  the  appearance  of  going  further  down,  though  the 
passage  is  stopped  by  a  wall  built  across  it.  The  painting  over  the 
chantry-altar  is  unusually  well  preserved,  and  is  one  of  the  best  of 
the  later  catacomb  pictures.  In  the  centre  is  the  Madonna,  with 
Christ  as  a  boy,  with  the  cruciform  nimbus,  not  as  an  infant ;  this  is 
after  the  Byzantine  fashion,  as  at  Ravenna.  On  her  right  is  S.  Urban, 
with  a  jewelled  book  in  his  hand;  on  her  left,  S.  John,  with  another 
book  of  the  same  kind,  probably  both  intended  for  the  Gospels. 
The  drawing  of  these  figures  agrees  with  the  time  of  Pascal  I.  and 
of  Charles  the  Great,  when  there  was  a  great  revival  in  Rome,  and 
when  many  of  the  catacombs  were  restored  and  altered.  The  pro¬ 
bable  communication  between  this  and  the  Catacomb  of  Prsetextatus 
has  been  shewn  in  another  Plate  (IX.),  with  a  plan  of  the  district. 


CHURCH  OF  S.  URBAN 


£ 


FRESCO  PAINTING  AND  C0NFESS10 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


PLATE  XXVIII. 


PLAN  OF  S.  CALIXTUS. 


The  Catacombs. 


Description  of  Plate  XXVIII. 
PLAN  OF  S.  CALIXTUS. 


A  A.  Via  Appia. 

B.  Pagan  tomb  at  the  entrance ;  from  this  a  steep  staircase  de¬ 
scends  into  the  Catacomb,  and  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the 
original  entrances,  but  is  not  now  used. 

C.  A  modern  staircase  at  the  entrance,  now  used. 

D.  A  second  floor  under  C. 

E.  A  third  floor  under  C  and  D. 

F.  Sections  of  this  part  of  the  Catacomb. 

The  line  of  pavement  of  the  Via  Appia  is  shewn  in  the  fore¬ 
ground  ;  one  of  the  corridors  appears  to  pass  under  the  road,  but 
it  has  not  been  excavated  any  further.  It  is  the  opinion  of  some 
persons  who  have  given  attention  to  the  subject,  that  there  was  at 
one  period  a  connection  with  the  great  cemetery  of  Praetextatus  on 
the  other  side  of  the  great  road,  and  that  all  these  were  connected 
by  subterranean  passages  with  S.  Sebastian’s,  which  formed  a  general 
entrance  to  the  whole ;  but  there  is  no  evidence  of  this  now  visible  ; 
and  De  Rossi,  whose  opinion  carries  great  weight,  does  not  believe 
that  there  ever  was  any  such  general  entrance  for  this  whole 
district. 


CATACOMB  OF  S.  CALIXTUS. — PLAN. 


- 

'  ■  <  «  •  •  '• 


. 


N 

* 

. 

S,  K  ■ 

, 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


PLATE  XXIX. 

S.  GENNARO,  OR  JANUARIUS,  AT  NAPLES. 

Plan. 


The  Catacombs. 


Description  of  Plate  XXIX. 

S.  GENNARO,  OR  JANUARIUS,  AT  NAPLES. 

Plan.  (See  p.  125.) 

A.  Large  hall,  now  used  as  the  entrance. 

B.  Entrance  from  the  church,  n®t  now  used. 

C.  D,  E,  F.  Halls  cut  out  of  the  rock. 

G,  H.  Corridors  or  streets. 

I.  Passage  now  passing  under  houses. 

The  arco-solia ,  or  sepulchral  recesses,  and  the  cubicula  for  family 
burial-vaults  in  these  Catacombs,  are  seen  on  all  sides  on  the  Plan. 
This  catacomb  being  made  in  an  old  stone-quarry  of  hard  stone, 
thejr  are  not  merely  low  corridors,  as  in  the  tufa  of  Rome,  but  lofty 
halls  with  the  graves  cut  in  the  walls.  The  effect  is  much  finer 
than  in  those  of  Rome,  but  there  is  not  the  same  historical  interest 
attached  to  it.  The  paintings  are  of  very  similar  character  to  those 
of  Rome,  but  rather  finer  and  better  art  in  general,  though  of  about 
the  same  period. 


CATACOMBS  AT  NAPLES.— PLAN. 


•  > 


THE  CATACOMBS. 


GILT  GLASS  VASES. 


The  Catacombs— Gilt  Glass  Vases. 


Plate  I. 

These  vases  being  now  all  preserved  in  museums,  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  ascertain  from  which  catacomb  each  had  come.  There 
are  seldom  any  catalogues  of  the  museum  to  be  had,  and  the  keepers 
themselves  frequently  do  not  know  from  which  catacomb  each  has 
come.  We  have  therefore  only  the  style  of  drawing  as  our  guide  to 
their  dates,  but  as  the  mosaic  pictures  in  the  churches  are  all  dated 
by  inscriptions,  or  by  the  figures  of  the  Popes  who  have  given  them, 
and  the  style  of  drawing  of  each  century  is  the  same  whether  ex¬ 
ecuted  in  mosaics  or  in  frescoes,  we  can  arrive  pretty  nearly  at  the 
date  of  each.  The  subjects  are  so  generally  the  same  as  those  of 
the  frescoes  in  the  catacombs,  that  one  throws  great  light  upon  the 
other.  That  these  vases  were  found  in  the  catacombs  by  Bosio  and 
those  who  worked  with  him,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  there  is  no 
doubt,  and  they  were  very  soon  collected  in  museums.  Others 
were  found  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  by  Boldetti, 
who  published  a  work  on  the  Catacombs  in  1718,  and  a  few  may 
still  be  met  with  occasionally  for  sale.  That  the  Lombards,  who, 
according  to  Anastasius,  annihilated  the  Catacombs  in  the  seventh 
century,  should  have  respected  the  gilt  glass  vases  found  there,  is 
incredible.  The  greater  part  of  those  found  in  the  sixteenth  cen¬ 
tury  must  have  been  the  imitations  made  by  the  popes  and  the 
priests  for  the  pilgrims  in  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries,  and  the 
drawings  generally  agree  with  that  period  better  than  any  other. 
The  corrupt  mode  of  spelling  the  name  of  Jesus,  as  zeses,  also  in¬ 
dicates  a  very  ignorant  age,  such  as  the  ninth  century.  These  gilt 
figures,  it  may  be  as  well  to  mention,  are  on  the  flat  bottom  of  the 
round  vases.  The  upper  one  of  these  plates  has  the  head  of  Christ 
in  the  centre,  with  miracles  round  it.  The  three  upper  figures  are 
the  youths  in  the  “  burning  fiery  furnace to  the-  right  is  the  para¬ 
lytic  carrying  his  bed ;  beneath  that  is  Christ  with  the  rod  of  power, 
performing  the  miracles.  On  the  opposite  side  is  Christ  again  with 
the  rod,  performing  the  miracle  of  the  water  changed  into  wine  at 
the  marriage  of  Cana;  and  below  these  two  is  Tobias,  with  the 
fish  in  his  left  hand,  the  right  hand  raised  in  the  attitude  of 
speaking.  The  lower  vase  has  Moses  striking  the  rock,  and  the 
inscription  round  it — 

CVM  TVIS  PIE  ZESES  IN  DEO  HILARIS. 

“  All  faithful  people  in  God  rejoice.” 


CATACOMBS. GILT  GLASS  VASES 


I. 


The  Catacombs — Gilt  Glass  Vases. 


Plate  II. 

The  subjects  represented  in  these  two  vases  are  parts  of  the  his¬ 
tory  of  Jonas.  In  the  upper  picture  he  is  thrown  overboard  from 
the  ship,  on  which  again  is  zeses,  and  is  received  in  the  mouth  of 
a  great  fish,  which  in  the  English  version  of  the  Bible  is  called 
whale,  and  in  the  Vulgate  a  sea  serpent. 

The  lower  picture  is  Jonah  under  the  gourd,  according  to  the 
English  version;  or  the  ivy-bush ,  according  to  the  Vulgate.  The 
drawing  of  both  agrees  with  the  eighth  or  ninth  centuries. 


CATACOMBS. G-ILT  GLASS  USVS 


II. 


L OUTRE 


VATICAN 


The  Catacombs — Gilt  Glass  Vases. 


Plate  III. 

These  two  vases  may  perhaps  be  as  early  as  the  fifth  century ;  the 
upper  one  must  have  come  from  the  Jews’  Catacombs,  as  the  sub¬ 
ject  is  the  Ark,  guarded  by  the  lions  of  Israel  and  Judah,  under 
which  are  two  of  the  seven-branched  candlesticks,  and  a  fish  be¬ 
tween  them,  also  a  jug  or  vessel  for  the  holy  oil,  a  horn,  and  leaves. 
The  lower  vase  has  the  Good  Shepherd,  with  the  inscription — 

DIGNITAS  AMICORVM  VIVAS  CVM  TVIS  FELICITER. 


CATACOMBS  .GILT  GLASS  VASES 


in. 


VATICAN 


VATICAN 


The  Catacombs — Gilt  Glass  Vases. 


Plate  IV. 

The  two  vases  in  this  plate  have  each  a  representation  of  one  of 
the  miracles  of  our  Lord;  the  upper  one  is  the  Miracle  of  the 
Loaves,  with  the  seven  baskets  of  fragments,  the  figure  of  Christ  in 
the  middle,  with  a  nimbus  round  His  head,  and  the  rod  of  power  in 
His  hand ;  round  the  margins  are  the  words  zesvs  cristv. 

The  lower  one  is  the  Raising  of  Lazarus.  In  this  the  figure  of 
Christ  is  without  the  nimbus.  He  has  the  rod  of  power  in  His  right 
hand,  and  holds  up  the  folds  of  His  cloak  with  the  left.  The  figure 
of  Lazarus  is  wrapped  up  in  swaddling-clothes,  and  lying  on  the 
steps  of  the  tomb,  which  is  represented  as  a  small  temple  (this 
is  common  in  the  Middle  Ages).  Over  the  head  are  the  words 
ZESVS  CRISTVS. 


CATACOMBS.  GILT  GLASS  VASES 


VATICAN 


VATICAN 


The  Catacombs — Gilt  Glass  Vases. 


Plate  V. 

Of  these  two  vases  the  upper  one  represents  the  blessed  Virgin 
maria  between  petrvs  and  paulvs,  with  the  names  over  their  heads. 
Maria  is  represented  as  of  about  double  the  size  of  the  other  two, 
an  indication  of  its  late  date,  as  this  was  the  medieval  idea  of  ex¬ 
pressing  grandeur.  The  two  figures  seem  more  likely  to  be  intended 
for  the  two  local  saints  of  these  names,  Peter  the  Exorcist  and  Paul 
the  Deacon,  who  were  martyrs  in  the  last  great  persecution,  not  the 
Apostles. 

The  lower  picture  is  of  the  busts  of  petrvs  and  pavlvs,  with  the 
crown  of  martyrdom  suspended  between  them.  In  this  picture  the 
two  heads  have  beards.  Paul  is  bald,  with  a  long  beard,  Peter  has 
hair  on  his  head  and  a  short  beard.  In  the  upper  picture  they  are 
represented  as  boys. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  in  these  four  vases  we  have  the  life  of 
the  great  Apostles  represented  at  different  ages.  In  the  first  as 
boys,  under  the  protection  of  Maria,  or  the  Church (?),  (v.  i) :  then 
as  elder  youths,  preparing  for  the  crown  of  martyrdom,  (vi.  i) : 
then  as  old  men,  with  their  crowns  suspended  over  them,  (v.  2) : 
then  after  their  martyrdom,  with  Christ  crowning  them. 


CATACOMBS. GILT  GLASS  VASES 


V. 


■I 


AP.BLANCH1NI 


VATICAN 


The  Catacombs— Gilt  Glass  Vases. 


Plate  VI. 

On  both  of  these  vases  are  figures  of  petrvs  and  pavlvs,  with  the 
names  over  their  heads.  In  the  upper  picture  is  a  laurel  crown 
enclosing  the  monogram  of  Christ,  between  the  heads,  but  the  two 
figures  are  beardless  youths  without  the  nimbus ;  they  are  badly 
drawn,  seated,  attired  in  cloaks,  with  bare  feet.  This  picture  may  be 
of  the  fifth  or  sixth  century.  Round  the  margin  is  the  inscription 
DIGNITAS  .  AMICORVM  .  VIVAS  .  CVM  .  TVIS  .  FELICITER. 

The  lower  vase  and  picture  is  larger  and  in  a  rather  different  style 
of  drawing,  and  the  lettering  is  also  of  a  different  character,  more 
like  that  of  Plates  IV.  and  V.,  and  probably  also  of  the  eighth  or 
ninth  century.  The  two  figures  of  Peter  and  Paul  are  venerable 
fathers  with  long  beards,  seated,  and  wrapped  in  cloaks,  with  bare 
feet,  as  in  the  upper  one.  Between  the  heads  of  these  two  figures 
is  a  smaller  figure  of  Christ,  with  the  plain  crown  of  martyrdom  in 
each  hand,  which  He  is  about  to  place  on  the  heads  of  the  Apo¬ 
stles.  S.  Paul  is  represented  with  bald  head ;  S.  Peter  has  a  good 
deal  of  hair.  They  are  on  the  opposite  sides  from  what  they  are 
in  Plate  II.  Over  the  central  figure  is  the  name  cristvs  ;  over 
that  of  Peter  the  .  .  .  rvs  remains,  pet  has  disappeared ;  on  that  of 
S.  Paul  the  p  .  .  only  remains.  Round  the  margin  the  inscription 
is  broken,  but  a  great  part  of  it  remains : 

HILARIS . M  TVIS  OMNIBV  .  ,  FELICITER  SEMPER  IN  PACE  DEI. 


AP.  BOLDETTI 


AP.  "BOLDETTI 


The  Catacombs— Vases. 


Plate  VII. 

The  upper  vase  has  a  singular  picture  upon  it;  part  of  a  colon¬ 
nade  of  the  composite  order,  with  twisted  flutes  on  the  columns, 
and  festoons  hanging  from  one  to  the  other ;  between  the  columns 
are  small  figures,  each  with  a  roll  of  parchment  in  his  hand,  signi¬ 
fying  some  work  he  has  written.  The  first  small  figure  to  the  left- 
hand  has  no  name  over  it,  the  second  has  pavlvs  written  vertically, 
the  third  systvs-,  the  fourth  lavrentivs.  Over  the  colonnade  is 
the  word  pie  zeses.  Below  the  colonnade  are  three  half-length 
figures,  with  their  names :  the  first  on  the  left  hand  is  ippolitvs, 
the  central  figure  cristvs,  the  third  timotevs.  Christ  has  a  roll  or 
book  in  his  hand,  Timotheus  has  one  behind  his  shoulders,  pro¬ 
bably  to  signify  the  epistle  sent  to  him  by  S.  Paul ;  they  all  have 
short  beards  and  are  bald.  This  picture  is  different  from  the  others, 
and  may  be  of  the  sixth  century. 

The  lower  picture  has  three  figures ;  the  central  one  is  a  lady 
richly  attired  in  the  costume  of  the  eighth  or  ninth  century,  wearing 
a  cap,  and  with  the  hands  uplifted  in  the  oriental  attitude  of  prayer; 
over  her  head  is  the  name  agnes.  This  figure  reminds  us  of  the 
fine  mosaic  picture  over  the  altar  in  her  church  near  Rome,  over 
her  catacomb,  which  is  of  the  seventh  century.  On  her  right  hand 
is  a  figure,  yvith  the  right  hand  in  the  attitude  of  speaking,  and  He 
appears  to  wear  a  wig ;  His  feet  are  bare ;  by  His  side  is  the  name 
cristvs.  On  the  other  side  is  a  small  figure,  but  with  the  hands 
crossed,  and  one  holding  a  roll,  and  by  the  side  the  name  lavren¬ 
tivs.  The  manner  in  which  the  figure  of  Christ  is  mixed  up  with 
that  of  Saints,  as  if  all  on  the  same  level,  appears  very  irreverent  in 
the  eyes  of  an  Anglo-Catholic. 


: 


AP.  SAN'CIEMENTl 


AP.  OLIVIERI 


The  Catacombs — Vases. 


Plate  VIII. 

These  two  vases  are  distinctly  pagan  although  found  in  the  cata¬ 
combs,  and  therefore  affording  strong  evidence  that  these  cemeteries 
were  not  exclusively  Christian.  In  the  upper  picture  are  two  half- 
length  figures,  the  right-hand  is  a  male,  the  left-hand  female.  Their 
costume  is  singular  and  very  much  alike,  both  seem  to  wear  a  cloak 
crossed  over  the  breast;  the  lady  has  a  necklace,  with  jewels  hang¬ 
ing  from  it.  Between  them  is  a  small  idol  upon  a  round  table  or 
stand  for  it,  he  carries  a  club  and  a  lion’s  skin  and  head,  the  usual 
attributes  of  Hercules.  Over  the  shoulders  of  the  figures  is  an 
inscription  written  in  a  singular  manner,  the  words  divided  to  fit 
the  spaces  : 

AGERENT  INFELICES  BIBATIS. 

Round  the  margin  are  tire  words — 

IN  NOMINE  HERCVLIS  ORFITUS  ET  CONSTANTIA. 

The  lower  picture  is  evidently  the  Three  Graces  in  an  engrailed 
border,  and  the  words— 

CELASIA  LECORI  COMASIA  IS  ANNIS  PIETEZES  ET  EMVLT  VIVATIS. 


CATACOMBS. GILT  GLASS  VASES 


VIII. 


THE 


CATACOMBS- 


OF 

ROME. 


BY 


JOHN  HENRY  PARKER,  C.B. 

Hon.  M.A.  Oxon.,  F.S.A.  Lond.  ; 

Keeper  of  the  Ashmolean  Museum  of  History  and  Antiquities 
in  the  University  of  Oxford,  etc. 


OXFORD: 

JAMES  PARKER  AND  CO. 

LONDON : 

JOHN  /MURRAY,  ALBEMARLE-STREET. 

1877. 


THE 


ARCHAEOLOGY  OF  ROME, 

BY 

JOHN  HENRY  PARKER,  C.B. 

Hon.  M.A.  Oxon.,  F.S.A.  Lond.  ; 

Keeper  of  the  Ashmolean  Museum  of  History  and  Antiquities 
in  the  University  of  Oxford. 

In  separate  Volumes ,  each  complete  in  itself. 

— — — - - 

Part  i.  THE  PRIMITIVE  FORTIFICATIONS, 

And  Buildings  of  the  time  of  the  Kings,  with  Twenty  Plates  in 
Photo-engraving,  Plans — and  Diagrams. 

Second  Edition ,  nearly  ready. 

This  includes  plans  of  the  First  Wall  of  Rome  on  the  Palatine  Hill,  called 
Roma  Quadrata — of  the  Second  Wall  of  Rome,  which  enclosed  the  two  hills 
(Palatine  and  Capitoline)  in  one  city — and  of  the  Third  Wall  of  Rome,  that  of 
Servius  Tullius,  which  enclosed  the  Seven  Hills  (each  previously  fortified  sepa¬ 
rately)  in  one  city,  with  sections  of  important  points. 

2.  THE  WALLS  AND  GATES  OF  ROME, 

Of  the  time  of  the  Empire  and  the  Popes,  with  Twenty  Plates 
in  Photo-engraving,  Plans,  and  Diagrams. 

Second  Edition ,  nearly  ready. 

These  diagrams  give  plans  of  the  older  earthworks  on  which  the  Wall  of  Aurelian 
was  built, — and  small  views  of  the  most  perfect  parts  of  the  wall  with  its  bastions 
and  gates.  This  volume  also  contains  the  two  parts  of  a  Chronological  Table 
of  Buildings  in  Rome — i.  from  the  earliest  period  to  the  time  of  Constantine, 
A.  D.  340. — 2.  from  that  time  to  the  year  1600. 

3.  THE  HISTORICAL  CONSTRUCTION  OF  WALLS, 

With  Plates  in  Photoengraving,  Plans,  and  Diagrams.  Second 

Edition ,  in  the  Press. 

This  shews  the  different  modes  of  construction  according  to  Vitruvius,  that  is, 
the  visible  construction  on  the  surface  of  the  wall,  and  how  to  distinguish  the 
three  periods  of  the  Walls  of  the  Kings,  and  the  centuries  in  the  time  of  the 
Empire,  on  the  principle  of  comparison  with  historical  types. 

These  three  Parts  were  issued  as  Vol.  /.,  with  the  Plates  separate ,  in  order  to 
avoid  mere  pamphlets,  and  to  be  more  convenient  for  use. 


2 


Archceology  of  Rome. 


4.  THE  EGYPTIAN  OBELISKS, 

And  Supplement  to  the  first  edition  of  Parts  I.  and  II.,  with 
Twenty-eight  Plates.  Medium  8vo.,  cloth,  ior.  6d. 

The  part  on  the  Obelisks  gives  English  translations  of  the  hieroglyphics,  which 
contain  the  history  of  each  obelisk  in  Egypt,  and  of  the  Latin  inscriptions  which 
record  their  removal  to  Rome. 

Part  II.  The  Supplement  contains  also  an  additional  account  of  the  first  three 
Walls  of  Rome,  and  chiefly  objects  found  in  the  excavations  made  after  the  work 
was  published,  many  of  them  now  destroyed  or  buried  again. 


5.  THE  FORUM  ROMANUM,  AND 

6.  THE  VIA  SACRA, 

With  Forty-six  Plates  and  Two  Plans.  The  Two  Parts  in  one 
Volume.  8 vo.,  cloth,  15V.  These  two  Parts  were  issued  as  Vol.  II. 

“.  .  .  .  Mr.  Parker’s  work,  though  by  no  means  faultless,  is  not  the  less  of 
very  great  value  in  the  interpretation  of  these  grand  scenes,  and  as  such  we  com¬ 
mend  it  to  our  readers.” — The  Times,  October  21,  1876. 

“It  treats  only  of  the  two  contiguous  areas  of  the  Forum  Romanum  and  the 
Via  Sacra  ;  but  these  are  exhaustively  treated,  and  the  volume  is  full  of  new  and 
striking  matter.  No  future  student  of  Roman  topography  will  be  able  to  dispense 
with  it.  Mr.  Parker  has  deserved  the  gratitude  both  of  historians  and  antiqua¬ 
rians  for  what  he  has  already  done,  and  he  has  our  best  wishes  that  life  and 
strength  may  be  given  him  to  finish  his  great  task  successfully.” — The  Guardian, 
June  13,  1877.  “ 

“Although  a  newspaper  is  not  perhaps  the  best  medium  for  a  notice  of  such 
a  work  as  this,  yet  its  importance  is  such  that  it  is  of  interest  for  the  whole  civil¬ 
ized  world.  After  Mr.  Parker  had  devoted  the  greater  part  of  his  career  to  the 
revival  of  Christian  and  mediaeval  art  with  the  most  successful  results,  he  has 
since  taken  up  his  winter  residence  in  Rome,  and  thrown  himself  with  zeal  upon 
the  exploration  of  the  monuments  of  the  former  masters  of  the  world  which  had 
been  preserved,  and  with  equal  success  he  has  opened  out  quite  a  new  track.” — 
Dr.  Reichensperger  in  the  Deutschen  Reichts-Zeitung,  June  7,  1877. 


7.  THE  COLOSSEUM  AT  ROME 

Compared  with  other  Amphitheatres ;  with  Thirty- six  Plates. 
Medium  8vo.,  cloth,  iol  6d. 

The  photo-engravings  in  this  volume  give-first  the  colossal  building  above 
ground,  then  the  substructures  21  ft.  below  the  level  of  the  arena,  brought  to 
light  by  the  great  excavations  in  1875,  with  views  and  plans  of  the  amphitheatres 
at  Capua,  Pozzuoli,  and  Pompeii ;  also  the  graffiti  of  the  second  century. 

“  The  task  undertaken  by  the  venerable  author,  who  holds  the  position  of 
Keeper  of  the  Ashmolean  Museum  of  History  and  Antiquities  in  the  University 
of  Oxford,  was  far  from  easy.  That  he  has,  however,  accomplished  it  in  a  man¬ 
ner  most  creditable  to  himself,  and  demonstrative  of  sustained  energy  and  patient 
industry,  are  plainly  evident.  The  Colosseum  at  Rome  has  always  proved 
a  unique  object  of  interest.  This  vast  edifice— the  majestic  ruins  of  which  adorn 
the  Italian  capital — was  not,  as  tradition  asserts,  raised  in  ten  years,  during  the 
time  of  the  Flavian  dynasty.  On  the  contrary,  it  took  more  than  a  century  to 
erect ;  the  ponderous  work,  on  the  testimony  of  Pliny,  having  been  commenced  by 

Scaurus,  the  step-son  of  Sylla  the  Dictator . Mr.  Parker  is  entitled  to  much 

praise  for  the  marked  .ability  and  erudition  he  has  displayed  in  this  his  latest 
literary  production.” — The  Echo,  October  25,  1876. 


Archeeology  of  Rome. 


8.  THE  AQUEDUCTS  OF  ROME, 

Traced  from  their  Sources  to  their  Mouths,  with  Thirty-six  Plates, 
Maps,  and  Plans.  Medium  8vo.,  cloth,  15^. 

In  this  volume  each  stream  is  traced  back  to  its  sources  in  the  hills  and  down 
again  to  its  mouth,  with  views  and  plans  and  details  along  the  line  at  the  most 
important  points.  No  city  was  ever  so  well  supplied  with  water  as  ancient  Rome, 
the  manner  in  which  this  was  done  is  here  fully  explained.  Each  of  the  four¬ 
teen  different  streams  of  water  was  conveyed  to  Rome,  and  through  Rome  to  the 
Tiber,  in  a  separate  channel  or  conduit,  technically  called  a  specus,  because  it  was 
at  first  a  tunnel  only,  and  it  always  continued  to  be  a  tunnel  through  the  hills,  but 
across  the  valleys  it  was  carried  on  arches.  The  latest  and  highest  of  the  great 
aqueducts  was  made  by  Frontinus,  who  was  appointed  by  Caligula,  A.D.  40,  and 
was  the  head  of  them  for  many  years ;  he  has  left  an  admirable  account  of 
them.  This  great  aqueduct  was  of  the  time  of  Nero,  and  so  contrived  that  the 
water  from  it  would  supply  any  of  the  others  in  case  of  need;  this  water  was 
conveyed  into  all  the  fourteen  Regiones  of  Rome,  and  it  could  never  fail,  being 
in  fact  a  branch  of  the  river  Anio. 

9.  THE  TOMBS  IN  AND  NEAR  ROME, 

With  the  Columbaria  and  the  Painted  Tombs  on  the  Via  Latina, 
with  Twenty-four  Plates  in  Photo-engraving. 

10.  Mythology  in  Funereal  Sculpture,  and  Early  Christian  Sculpture, 
with  Sixteen  Plates.  These  two  Parts  in  one  Volume. 

Medium  8vo.,  cloth,  15$. — Now  ready. 

ix.  CHURCH  AND  ALTAR  DECORATIONS  IN  ROME, 

Including  Mosaic  Pictures  and  Cosmati  Work,  with  Twenty  Plates 
and  numerous  Diagrams.  Medium  8vo.,  cloth,  105-.  6d. 

This  gives  a  Chronological  series  of  the  Mosaic  Pictures  in  the  Churches,  and 
the  ornamentation  of  the  altars  in  the  thirteenth  century. 

12.  THE  CATACOMBS, 

Or  Ancient  Cemeteries  of  Rome,  with  Twenty-four  Plates  and 
Plans.  Medium  8vo.,  cloth,  15J. — Now  ready. 

Shewing  their  construction,  and  the  Fresco  Paintings  from  photographs  taken 
with  the  light  of  Magnesium,  the  only  authentic  representations  of  them. 

Also  the  Gilt  Glass  Vases. 

13.  EARLY  AND  MEDIAEVAL  CASTLES, 

Or  Palaces  and  Gardens,  with  Sixteen  Plates  and  Plans. 
Also  a  complete  account  of  the  Excavations  in  Rome  from  i860 
to  the  present  time.  In  the  Press. 


‘  ‘  Each  new  work  he  issues  adds  materially  to  the  stock  of  our  knowledge  of 
what  ancient  Rome  must  have  been  really  like,  and  tends  to  clear  away  many 
of  the  errors  into  which  scholars  as  well  as  the  public  have  been  led  by  too  ready 
a  reliance  on  the  dicta  of  the  many  distinguished  men  who  have  devoted  their 
abilities  to  the  study  of  Roman  topography.”— Athenccum. 

Oxford  :  James  Parker  and  Co.  London  :  John  Murray. 


A  SELECTION  OF 

HISTORICAL  PHOTOGRAPHS, 

FROM  MR.  PARKER’S  SERIES  : 

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And  Similar  Walls  in  other  Ancient  Cities  of  Italy 

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to  hold  Fifty ,  4 s. 

These  volumes  of  Selections  are  admirably  suited  for  Wedding  Presents,  espe¬ 
cially  to  give  ladies  who  have  been  in  Rome  ;  such  a  present  would  be  a  delicate 
compliment,  by  assuming  at  the  same  time  that  she  can  appreciate  its  value. 


THE  BIBLE  OF  THE  MONASTERY  OF  ST.  PAUL, 

NEAR  ROME, 

Described  and  Compared  with  other  Carlovingian  Manuscripts : 
a  contribution  to  the  Art  Literature .  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
By  J.  O.  Westwood,  M.A.,  F.L.S.,  &c.  With  Thirty-five 
Photographs.  jQ 2 .  iol 


HISTORICAL  PHOTOGRAPHS. 

“For  the  present  state  of  monuments  and  examples,  Mr.  J.  H.  Parker’s  col¬ 
lection  of  Roman  and  other  Photographs  stands  by  itself,  as  a  unique  and  in¬ 
valuable  addition  to  modern  means  of  accurate  knowledge.” — Rev.  R.  St.John 
Tyrwhitt ,  in  Preface  to  “  The  Art  Teaching  of  the  Primitive  Church.  ” 


London  :  Edward  Stanford,  Charing-cross. 


Nearly  ready , 

A  PLAN  OF  ANCIENT  ROME, 

In  Chromo-Lithography ,  in  order  to  distinguish  the  different 
subjects  by  different  colours. 


I. 

The  Plan  of  Rome,  engraved  by  W.  Harwood.  This  is  taken  as 
the  ground-work ;  it  is  a  reduction  of  the  large  Plan  of  Nolli  of 
Rome  in  1740,  with  the  additions  to  i860,  and  is  generally  ac¬ 
knowledged  to  be  the  best  Plan  that  has  hitherto  been  published. 
It  has  also  the  advantage  of  a  copious  index  on  the  Plate. 

Upon  this  will  be  printed  in  different  colours  the  following 
subjects. 

II. 

Neutral  tint ,  to  shew  the  valleys  and  the  fossae — leaving  the  hills 
light. 

III. 

Red.  The  Walls  of  Tufa  of  the  time  of  the  Kings,  including 
the  Primitive  Fortifications  on  the  seven  hills  as  separate  for¬ 
tresses,  and  the  first  three  Walls  of  Rome. 

1.  Roma  Quadrata,  according  to  Livy  [i.  7] ;  Dionysius  [ii. 
37];  and  Tacitus  [Ann.  xii.  24]. 

2.  The  Second  Wall  of  Rome,  inclosing  the  two  hills 
Palatine  and  Capitoline,  according  to  Livy  [i.  38] ;  and  Dio¬ 
nysius  [ii.  50]. 

3.  The  Seven  Hills  combined  in  one  City,  by  Servius 
Tullius,  according  to  Livy  [i.  36,  44] ;  and  Pliny  [Nat.  Hist., 
xxxvi.  24.  3]. 

The  Wall  of  Enceinte,  added  by  Tarquinius  Superbus  on 
the  eastern  side  of  Rome,  and  left  unfinished  [Dionysius,  iv.  81,  7]. 
The  Aqueducts  were  carried  upon  this  bank  for  more  than  a  mile, 
and  the  Wall  of  Aurelian  was  afterwards  built  upon  it. 

The  additions  of  San-Gallo  for  the  Popes  are  also  shewn. 


7 


IV. 

Green.  The  Aqueducts,  according  to  Frontinus — and  the  other 
streams  of  water,  some  of  which  now  run  in  the  drains  or  cloacce, 
but  were  originally  open. 


V. 

Yellow.  The  Lines  of  the  Streets,  drawn  from  the  Milliarium 
Aureum,  according  to  Pliny  [Nat.  Hist.,  iii.  9],  passing  through 
the  twelve  gates  in  the  inner  wall  of  the  City,  “  only  to  be 
counted  once,”  to  the  eighteen  gates  in  the  outer  wall  of  enceinte, 
and  seven  on  the  hills  in  the  ancient  fortresses,  not  in  use  in  the 
time  of  Pliny.  These  make  the  thirty-seven  gates  of  Rome,  men¬ 
tioned  also  in  the  Regionary  Catalogue  of  the  fourth  century. 


VI. 

Sepia.  The  Tombs — the  remains  of  ancient  pavements  in  the  streets, 
and  the  cippi  of  the  pomoerium ,  in  the  places  where  they  still  re¬ 
main,  or  are  known  to  have  been  found. 


If  this  meets  with  approbation  and  encouragement,  it  is  proposed 
to  follow  it  with  Plans  of  the  Fourteen  Regiones,  on  a  larger  scale, 
and  to  shew  the  actual  or  probable  site  of  each  of  the  objects  men¬ 
tioned  in  the  Regionary  Catalogues  of  the  fourth  century,  called 
Curiosnm  Urbis  and  Notitia  de  Regionibus.  These  are  in  fact  one 
catalogue,  with  slight  variations,  one  being  about  fifty  years  earlier 
than  the  other. 

Such  fragments  of  the  great  Marble  Plan  of  Rome,  of  the  second 
century,  as  can  be  placed  with  any  certainty,  will  be  inserted  in 
their  places.  This  Plan  was  not  a  pavement,  as  was  formerly  sup¬ 
posed,  but  was  made  to  hang  upon  a  lofty  wall  under  the  portico 
of  the  Templum  Urbis  Romce,  which  faced  the  Foru?n  Pads ,  the 
largest  market-place  in  Rome,  and  was  made  on  three  different 
scales,  according  to  the  distance  from  the  eye.  This  makes  it  very 
difficult  to  fit  the  pieces  together.  Canina  had  not  observed  this, 
but  treated  it  as  a  pavement,  and  all  on  one  scale ;  and  this  led  him 
into  errors  in  several  places,  especially  in  the  Forum  Romanum, 
where  he  has  put  together  two  fragments  on  different  scales. 


JHcbur&nl  Ircfjitccturc  tmir  StrlpoEgg. 


A  CONCISE  GLOSSARY  OF  TERMS  USED  IN 
Grecian,  Roman,  Italian,  and 
GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE. 

By  John  Henry  Parker,  C.B.,  M.A.,  F.S.A. 

A  New  Edition ,  revised.  Fcap.  8vo.,  with  nearly  500  Illustrations, 
In  ornamental  cloth,  7 s.  6 d. 

AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GOTHIC 

ARCHITECTURE. 

By  John  Henry  Parker,  C.B.,  M.A.,  F.S.A. 

Fourth  Edition ,  Revised  and  Enlarged ,  with  189  Illustrations, 

A  Topographical  and  a  Glossarial  Index.  Fcap.  8vo. 

In  ornamental  cloth,  $s. 

A  Fifth  Edition  is  nea7'ly  ready. 

SOME  ACCOUNT  OF  DOMESTIC  ARCHITECTURE 

IN  ENGLAND. 

Vol.  I.,  from  the  Conquest  to  the  end  of  the  Thirteenth  Century. 
By  T.  Hudson  Turner.  8vo.,  cl.,  21  s.  Second  Edition. 

Vol.  II.  FROM  EDWARD  I.  TO  RICHARD  II.  (the  Edwardian 
Period,  or  the  Decorated  Style).  8vo.,  cloth,  21s. 

Vol.  III.  FROM  RICHARD  II.  TO  PIENRY  VIII.  (or  the 
Perpendicular  Style).  In  2  Parts,  8vo.,  1 1.  105-. 

With  numerous  Illustrations  of  Existing  Remains  from  Original 
Drawings. 

By  the  Editor  of  “The  Glossary  of  Architecture.” 


AN  ATTEMPT  TO  DISCRIMINATE  THE  STYLES  OF 
ARCHITECTURE  IN  ENGLAND,  from  the  Conquest  to 
the  Reformation  :  with  a  Sketch  of  the  Grecian  and  Roman 
Orders.  By  the  late  Thomas  Rickman,  F.S.A.  Sixth  Edition , 
with  considerable  Additions,  chiefly  Historical, 

By  John  Henry  Parker,  C.B.,  M.A.,  F.S.A. 

And  numerous  Illustrations.  Medium  8vo.  Nearly  ready. 


ENGLISH  COUNTIES;  OR, 

The  Architectural  History  of  every  Church  in 


Bedfordshire,  2s.  6d. 

Berkshire,  2s.  6d. 

Buckinghamshire,  2s.  6d. 

Suffolk,  with  Engravings,  7 s.  6d. 

The  Diocese  of  Oxford,  in  one  volume.  8vo.,  7 s.  6d. 


Cambridgeshire,  4J. 
Huntingdonshire,  2s.  6d. 
Oxfordshire,  2 s.  6d. 


Oxford  and  London  :  James  Parker  and  Co. 


Date  Due  ^ 

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